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Presented   by  Dr.  F!  L.Pc^-llo-n  . 

BX  98A1  .M56  1870 

Metcalf,  Richard,  1829-1881. 

Letter  and  spirit 


LETTEK   AND    SPIKIT. 


w 


LETTER  AND   SPIRIT 


aEincJjester  ILectures. 


BY 


/ 

RICHARD    METCALF. 


BOSTON: 

AMERICAN    UNITARIAN    ASSOCIATION. 

1870. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 

THE  AMERICAN  UNITARIAN  ASSOCIATION, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
District  of  Massachusetts. 


CAMBRIDGE : 
PRESS  OF  JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON. 


TO 


THE^PEOPLE     OF    WINCHESTER, 

WHOSE    QUESTIONS  I  HAVB  TRIED  TO  ANSWER  HERE, 


PREFACE. 


I  WAS  often  asked,  "  What  do  Unitarians 
believe  ?  Why  do  they  believe  it  ?  and,  How 
do  they  explain  the  Bible  passages  which  are 
used  to  teach  a  different  faith  ?  "  In  reply, 
I  gave  a  course  of  "  Winchester  Lectures," 
which,  with  a  few  alterations,  are  now  pre- 
sented to  the  public. 

As  for  the  form  of  the  lectures,  I  aimed 
chiefly  at  a  statement  clear  enough  to  be  un- 
derstood by  all,  and  short  enough  to  be  re- 
membered. 

As  for  the  range  of  topics,  I  took  up  the 
doctrines  about  which  I  was  questioned,  and 
none  others. 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

As  for  the  name  of  the  book,  I  call  it  the 
"  Letter,"  because  I  think  it  is  the  literal  mean- 
ing of  what  Jesus  taught  in  his  Gospel,  eigh- 
teen centuries  ago ;  and  the  "  Spirit,"  because 
I  think  it  is  what  the  Spirit  of  God  teaches, 
this  very  day,  through  the  spirit  of  man. 

R.  M. 

Winchester,  Mass.,  Dec,  1869. 


CONTENTS. 


PAQB 

Preface vii 

LECTURE 

I.    The  Use  of  Creeds 9 

Have  Unitarians  a  creed  ? 9 

Creeds  and  character 11 

Creeds  not  final 13 

Free  inquiry 15 

Value  of  creeds 17 

II.    OxE  God  —  the  Father 20 

Minorities  and  majorities 21 

Following  the  wisest 22 

Trinitarian  language  unscriptural       .     .  23 

Only  one  God 25 

Jesus'  own  testimony 26 

Confessions  of  Faith 27 

God  and  Satan      . 28 

The  Father 29 

m.    What  thlntk  ye  of  Christ?  ....  31 

Belief  in  Christ 32 

Christ  and  God 33 

Christ  and  Man 36 


X  CONTENTS. 

XiXCTTTRX  PAGB 

Christ,  the  great  Teacher 37 

Christ,  the  Mediator 38 

Christ,  our  Atonement 40 

Christ,  the  Saviour 41 

Christ  crucified 42 

Christ,  our  heavenly  Brother  ....  44 

IV.     "The  Son  OF  God" 46 

Common  meaning  of  the  phrase    ...  46 

How  applied  to  Jesus 50 

Only-begotten  Son 50 

First-begotten  Son 52 

God's  own  Son 52 

Jesus  a  Son 55 

Jesus  the  Son 56 

V.    The  Holy  Spirit 58 

The  Holy  Spirit  of  the  Bible    ....  59 

The  gifts  of  the  Spirit 62 

Promise  of  the  Comforter 64 

The  promise  fulfilled 65 

The  essential  doctrine 67 

The  lesson  of  the  hour 69 

VI.     ♦♦  What  IS  Man?" 72 

Man,  the  Son  of  God 73 

Libels  on  human  nature 75 

"All  souls  are  mine  " 77 

God's,  by  creation 78 

God's,  by  education 80 

God's,  by  redemption 82 

Filial  obligations 84 


CONTENTS.  xi 

LECTURB  PAGE 

VU.    The  Unquenchable  Fire 85 

Gehenna 85 

Eternal  punishment  unscriptural  ...  86 

Eternal  punishment  unreasonable  ...  89 

This  fire  a  reality 90 

Fires,  present  and  future 91 

Use  of  these  fires 91 

Salvation  of  all 93 

Objection  to  this  doctrine 95 

Lesson  of  the  hour 96 

Our  tribulations 97 

The  unpardonable  sin.     Note  ....  99 

VIII.    The  Day  of  Judgment 101 

Jesus'  own  predictions 101 

Apostolic  predictions 103 

"  Judgment  to  come  " 105 

"End  of  the  world" 106 

The  fulfilment 107 

Will  the  world  end  ? Ill 

Our  day  of  judgment 113 

Christ  has  come 115 

IX.     Salvation 117 

The  two  meanings 117 

What  we  want 119 

What  is  possible 121 

How  Jesus  saves 124 

True  repentance 125 

Certainty  of  salvation 128 

Moral  power 130 

Summary  of  doctrine 132 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  PAOB 

X,    The  New  Birth 135 

Seeing  God's  kino-dom. 135 

Meanino:  of  new  birth 139 

Who  must  be  changed 146 

The  practical  lesson 147 

XI.     The  Life  that  now  is 150 

Nearest  world  and  next  world       .     .     .  151 

God's  presence  here 153 

A  present  heaven 155 

Unquenchable  fires  now 157 

Worth  of  the  body 160 

Worth  of  the  world 166 

Xn.    The  Life  that  is  to  come      ....  171 

Universality  of  belief 172 

Great  faith  of  the  dying 174 

Love  for  the  departed 175 

Teachings  of  Jesus 176 

Personal  identity 178 

Endless  progress 180 

Ministering  spirits 181 

Reunion  of  friends 183 


LECTUEE    I. 

THE    USE    OF    CREEDS. 

TTNITARIAN  doctrines  were  once  so  often 
proclaimed,  in  sermons,  tracts,  and  pub- 
lic controversies,  that  whether  a  man  believed 
or  denied,  he  could  not  well  fail  to  know 
what  they  are.  Now,  however,  not  only  has 
a  new  generation  of  Unitarians  arisen,  which 
knows  not  Channing  and  Ware,  and  is  sadly 
ignorant  of  the  very  faith  it  professes,  but 
many  outside  of  our  church  are  truly  desirous 
of  knowing  what  we  believe.  From  within 
and  from  without  the  question  is  continually 
coming,  Wliat  is  the  Unitarian  Faith  ?  and  it 
is  a  question  we  are  always  glad  to  answer. 

HAVE  UNITARIANS   A   CREED? 

But  have  Unitarians  a  creed  ?     As  an  or- 
ganized body  we  have  none.      There  is  no 


10  THE   USE   OF   CREEDS. 

formal  statement  of  belief  that  has  ever  been 
voted  on  and  adopted  by  the  denomination. 
There  are  no  articles  to  which  a  man  must 
assent  before  he  becomes  connected  with  our 
churches  ;  for  Greek  and  Roman  Catholics, 
Trinitarian  and  Unitarian  Protestants,  are 
alike  welcomed  to  our  baptismal  rites,  com- 
munion service,  the  fellowship  and  privileges 
of  the  Church,  if  they  are  truly  seeking  the 
Christian  life.  We  have  no  one  creed  bind- 
ing upon  all  the  members  of  our  body.  But 
each  one  of  us  has  his  own  creed,  which  is  as 
full  and  long  as  that  of  any  other  Christian. 
For  a  creed  is  simply  a  belief,  though  it  may 
never  have  been  written  down  upon  paper,  or 
uttered  in  definite  phrases  by  the  lips.  The 
faith  which  a  man  clings  to  and  positively  be- 
lieves is  really  his  creed.  While,  therefore,  we 
differ  among  ourselves  as  the  members  of  all 
churches  do,  there  are  certain  fundamental 
points  on  which  we  are  all  agreed.  It  is  to 
these  fundamental  agreements  that  I  shall 
chiefly  call   your  attention,  and   shall  begin 


THE  USE  OF  CREEDS.  11 

with  considering  our  doctrine  concerning  the 
use  of  creeds. 

I.   CREEDS   AND   CHARACTER. 

No  creed  is  to  be  made  a  test  of  character. 
To  say  of  the  living,  "  they  are  Christian  " 
because  they  believe  what  we  do,  or  "  unchris- 
tian" because  they  believe  something  else; 
to  say  of  the  departed,  they  have  gone  to 
heaven  because  they  accepted  oar  creed,  or  to 
a  very  different  place  because  they  rejected  it; 
that  is  a  practice  too  often  followed  in  the 
churches,  but  always  and  everywhere  de- 
nounced by  Unitarians.  We  find  no  sanc- 
tion for  any  such  mode  of  judgment  in  the 
teachings  of  the  Spirit  within  us,  and  certainly 
none  in  the  words  or  life  of  Jesus.  Not  those 
who  call  him  "  Lord,  Lord,"  are  to  enter  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  and  live  with  him  there 
for  ever,  but  they,  and  they  alone,  who  do  the 
Father's  will ;  and  so  in  his  description  of  the 
judgment  scene,  the  dread  penalties  are  an- 
nounced,  not  against  unbelievers   or  misbe- 


12  THE  USE  OF  CREEDS. 

lievers,  but  only  against  the  workers  of  iniqui- 
ty, or  chiefly  against  those  who  neglect  to  do 
the  right.  Nowhere  in  his  teachings  is  intel- 
lectual belief  held  up  as  a  ground  for  either 
praise  or  blame.  When,  therefore,  the  churches 
about  us  require  this  creed  or  that  to  be  signed 
before  admitting  you  to  their  privileges,  we 
boldly  say  that  their  practice  cannot  be  de- 
fended by  one  word  which  was  ever  spoken 
by  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  any  more  than  it  can 
by  the  words  which  the  Comforter  is  whisper- 
ing this  day  to  our  hearts. 

At  the  entrance  to  the  visible  Church  below 
sit  the  doctors  of  theology,  the  self-appointed 
judges  of  their  fellow-men.  To  all  applicants 
for  admission  they  say,  "Do  you  believe  the 
Trinity  or  Unity,  the  atonement  or  reconcilia- 
tion, as  we  understand  and  explain  them  ?  " 
And  when  honest  hearts  declare  they  cannot 
accept  such  articles  of  faith,  the  answer  comes, 
"Depart  from  us,  ye  who  err  in  your  belief; 
the  gates  of  the  Church  shall  not  open  for 
you."     But,  thank  God,  this  judgment  is  not 


THE   USE   OF   CREEDS.  1»3 

the  last.  At  the  entrance  of  the  invisible 
Church  is  he  whom  the  Father  hath  appointed 
judge.  Of  those  who  draw  near  he  asks  the 
question,  not  "  Did  you  believe  the  doctrines 
I  taught  ? "  but  "  Did  you  visit  the  suffering 
children  of  God  and  minister  unto  them  ?  " 
Then  shall  they  who,  in  spite  of  darkness, 
doubt,  and  misbelief,  tried  to  do  the  Father's 
will,  hear  the  welcome,  "  Well  done :  enter 
into  the  joy  of  your  Lord."  And  they  shall 
enter  in  to  go  no  more  out  for  ever. 

II.   CREEDS   NOT   FINAL. 

No  creed  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  final  state- 
ment of  truth.  K  instead  of  considering  it 
simply  a  statement  of  present  belief  you  look 
upon  it  as  perfect  and  entire,  wanting  noth- 
ing; if  you  imagine  it  contains  not  merely 
the  truth,  but  the  whole  truth  and  nothing 
but  the  truth,  so  that  nothing  can  be  added 
to  it  or  taken  from  it,  then  it  will  surely  harm 
your  mind  and  soul.  It  will  so  enslave  you 
that  you  will  miss  the  glorious  liberty  of  the 


14  THE  USE  OF  CREEDS. 

sons  of  God,  —  the  liberty  of  roaming  unchal- 
lenged through  the  whole  domain  of  truth. 
For  what  are  we,  even  the  wisest  and  best 
of  us,  that  we  vainly  imagine  we  know  all 
that  God  can  reveal  or  man  can  learn ;  that 
we  think  our  finite  minds  have  comprehended 
the  Infinite;  that  we  suppose  we  have  by 
searching  found  out  every  thing  about  God, 
and  in  our  wisdom  have  learned  to  know  him 
perfectly !  No,  friends !  Our  very  name, 
disciples,  means  learners,  and  shows  that  we 
are  yet  to  remain  in  that  attitude  of  soul, 
wherein  the  inner  eye  shall  be  open  to  each 
new  gleam  of  heavenly  truth,  and  the  inner 
ear  open  to  each  new  whisper  of  the  still 
small  voice  of  God. 

The  Great  Teacher  did  not  proclaim  all 
truth.  There  were  many  things  which  he 
wanted  to  say,  but  withheld  because  the  dis- 
ciples could  not  bear  them  at  the  time ;  they 
were  never  to  be  taught  by  his  lips,  but  only 
in  after  years  by  the  spirit  of  truth  abiding  in 
human  hearts.     There  are  many  other  things 


THE   USE   OF   CREEDS.  15 

also,  which  we,  like  the  disciples,  misunder- 
stand when  they  first  come  to  us  from  Jesus, 
and  do  not  comprehend  the  full  meaning  of, 
till  taught  by  the  varied  experience  of  life. 
Some  things  which  he  says  as  well  as  does, 
we  know  not  now,  but  we  shall  know  here- 
after. For  it  is  not  Christian  character  only, 
but  Christian  theology,  which  is  "  first  the 
blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the 
ear."  We  therefore  do  not  regard  even  the 
best  creed  as  final.  We  look  for  new  truths, 
and  new  statements  of  old  ones.  We  look 
for  some  things  which  Jesus  did  not  declare, 
and  which  must  be  taught  by  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
and  also  for  richer  and  higher  meanings  in 
his  recorded  words. 

III.   FREE   INQUIRY. 

As  a  consequence  of  what  was  just  said, 
we  maintain  the  unlimited  right  of  free  inqui- 
ry. No  one  can  justly  interfere  with  this. 
No  man  or  church  can  set  bounds  to  the  prog- 
ress of  religious  thought,  and  say  to  the  in- 


16  THE  USE  OF   CREEDS. 

quiring  spirit,  "  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and 
no  farther."  For  each  one  is  at  liberty  to 
think  for  himself,  and  abide  by  his  honest  con- 
victions. 

This  liberty  of  thought  is  something  more 
than  a  right  which  may  be  used  or  laid  aside 
as  we  please ;  it  is  a  positive  duty,  always 
and  everywhere  binding  upon  us.  Yes,  a 
positive  duty  to  seek  whatever  new  light 
comes  from  heaven,  and  to  re-examine  by  it 
at  times  your  old  belief.  "  To  the  law  and 
to  the  testimony,"  —  to  the  three  great  wit- 
nesses of  the  Divine,  —  God  in  nature,  God 
in  his  inspired  teachers,  and  God  in  his  ever- 
present  Holy  Spirit ;  if  your  creed  agree  not 
with  these,  it  is  because  there  is  no  light  in  it. 
We  would  have  you  go  to  all  these  witnesses, 
because  they  are  parts  of  the  law  and  testi- 
mony of  God.  He  who  searches  the  Scrip- 
tures does  well;  but  in  refusing  to  search 
any  thing  else,  he  does  not  do  well.  God  is 
in  the  Bible,  and  no  church  proclaims  it  more 
emphatically  than  we;  but  He  is  also  every- 


THE   USE   OF   CREEDS.  17 

where  and  in  all  things,  and  this  cannot  be 
forgotten  without  great  loss.  The  whole 
universe  is  an  expression  of  the  God  who 
created  it  and  dwells  in  it.  Astronomy  is  his 
word  written  in  flaming  characters  all  over 
the  heavens,  and  geology  his  word  graven  on 
the  solid  rock ;  and  so  geology  is  but  the 
lithograph,  and  astronomy  the  photograph,  of 
that  Divine  Word,  which  was  not  only  "  made 
flesh,"  but  ages  before,  was  made  rock,  star, 
and  flower,  to  dwell  among  us  where  we 
might  behold  its  glory.  And  here  in  our  own 
souls  is  a  perpetual  revelation  from  God 
through  that  Holy  Comforter  who  will  abide 
with  us,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world. 
Now  what  Unitarianism  maintains  is  the 
duty  of  every  man  to  seek  whatever  religious 
truth  comes  from  all  these  sources. 

IV.    VALUE   OF   CREEDS. 

We  test  Christianity  by  the  life  rather  than 
belief,  by  the  heart  more  than  the  head.  We 
do  not  say  to  those  who  come,  "  Because  you 


18  THE  USE   OF   CREEDS. 

believe  what  we  do,  we  receive  you  into  our 
number ; "  but  the  one  invitation  which  goes 
forth  from  our  lips  is  this :  "  Brother,  if  your 
heart  is  right,  give  me  your  hand."  Yet  we 
cling  to  the  doctrines  we  hold,  and  proclaim 
them  earnestly,  because  the  right  belief  helps 
in  the  formation  of  the  right  character.  A 
correct  knowledge  of  what  Jesus  was,  saia, 
and  did,  helps  us  gain  that  spirit  of  Christ 
without  which  we  are  none  of  his.  It  is  only 
the  truth  which  can  set  us  free  from  gloomy 
superstitions.  It  is  only  the  truth  which  can 
set  at  liberty  those  who,  through  fear  of  death, 
are  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage. 
Nothing  but  the  right  doctrine  concerning 
God  can  make  us  come  to  him  with  filial 
love,  instead  of  shrinking  away  with  abject 
fear.  Nothing  l)ut  true  ideas  of  life  will  help 
us  live  always  as  in  the  divine  presence,  ren- 
dering service,  not  unto  man  only,  but  God. 
Nothing  but  right  ideas  of  death  will  sustain 
us  when  we  part  from  those  who  leave  our 
homes  but   not  our  hearts,  to  go  unto  their 


THE   USE   OF   CREEDS.  19 

Father  and  our  Father;  and  nothing  but 
right  ideas  of  the  future  will  enable  a  man  to 
say  in  all  sincerity,  that  "  To  live  is  Christ, 
but  to  die  is  gain."  So,  while  no  one  gains 
or  loses  divine  favor  because  of  his  belief,  he 
will  yet,  through  that  belief,  either  gain  or 
lose  hope,  joy,  and  consolation.  The  strength 
with  which  we  do  the  Father's  will,  and  the 
calm  trust  with  which  we  let  it  be  done,  are 
alike  determined  by  the  sincere  belief  to  which 
we  cling.  Therefore  I  ask  you  to  consider 
with  me  the  essential  doctrines  of  our  Unita- 
rian ChurcL 


LECTURE    II. 

ONE  GOD  — THE  FATHER, 

"li/TANY  people  object  to  re-opening  a  ques- 
tion  which  seems  to  have  been  decided 
by  a  majority  of  their  fellow-men,  especially 
when  that  decision   accords  with   their  own 
belief.     But  majorities  cannot  decide  a  truth. 
There  was  a  time  when  the  whole   Church 
numbered   one   hundred    and   twenty    souls; 
yet   Christianity  was   as  true  then   as   now, 
when  it  numbers  more  than  one  hundred  and 
twenty  millions.     There  was  an  earlier  day 
when  our  religion  was  confined  to  one  single 
breast,  that  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth ;  but  it  was 
as  true  then  as  it  will  be  in  that  coming  day, 
when  he  who  has   been  lifted  up  from  the 
earth  shall  have  drawn  all  men  unto  him. 


ONE   GOD  —  THE   FATHER.  21 

MINORITIES   AND   MAJORITIES. 

I  do  not  mean  to  imply  that  the  doctrine 
of  only  one  God,  the  Father,  is  held  by  a  very 
small  minority  of  Christians.  In  our  country 
it  is  taught  not  only  by  those  who  are  called 
Unitarians,  but  also  by  the  Christian  Disci- 
ples, Progressive  Friends,  and,  foremost  in 
point  of  numbers,  the  Universalists  ;  so  that 
it  is  probably  proclaimed  or  implied  every 
Sunday  in  the  teachings  of  at  least  fifteen 
hundred  pulpits.  Still  any  attempt  to  decide 
the  question  by  numbers  would  lead  only  to 
hopeless  confusion.  If  I  leave  the  Unitarian 
Church  for  the  Orthodox,  because  the  advo- 
cates of  the  latter  are  more  numerous,  I  must 
for  the  same  reason  give  up  Orthodoxy  itself 
for  the  old  Greek  Church,  which  is  far  larger 
and  more  powerful.  Then  the  Church  of 
Rome  would  command  me  by  her  multitude 
of  worshippers,  more  than  one-half  of  Chris- 
tendom, to  enter  her  venerable  portals.  But 
Mahometanism  claims  as  much  popularity  as 


22  ONE   GOD  —  THE   FATHER. 

Romanism,  and  Christians  and  Mahometans 
both  are  outnumbered  by  the  heathen  nations 
of  Asia  and  Africa.  The  followers  of  Christ 
number  scarcely  one-third  of  the  human  race, 
and  therefore  if  we  are  to  be  guided  by  num- 
bers in  our  investigation  of  truth,  we  must 
begin  by  giving  up  Christianity  itself  as  some- 
thing which  the  great  majority  of  mankind  do 
not  believe.     Majorities  cannot  decide  a  truth. 

FOLLOWING   THE   WISEST. 

Some  who  would  not  have  us  follow  the 
multitude,  would  yet  urge  us  to  follow  the 
wisest  and  best.  But  this  would  be  an  un- 
safe rule  to  adopt,  since  we  are  apt  to  consid- 
er those  "  wisest "  who  agree  with  us,  and 
those  "  best "  who  do  what  we  think  is  right. 
If,  however,  this  rule  should  be  adopted,  we 
should  not  be  ashamed  to  be  classed  with 
those  who  have  held  our  doctrine  of  the  strict 
unity  of  God.  We  should  point  to  men  like 
Milton,  Newton,  Lardner,  and  Priestley  in 
England,    Franklin,    Adams,    Channing,  and 


ONE   GOD THE   FATHER.  23 

Ballou  in  our  country,  and  say  that  we  find 
no  wiser  heads  or  purer  hearts  than  are  found 
among  the  advocates  of  this  faith.  We  think 
we  are  following  the  wisest,  in  holding  this 
doctrine  so  firmly;  and  yet  we  do  not  urge 
it  upon  others  for  this  reason,  but  only  be- 
cause we  think  it  is  the  truth.  We  do  not 
refer  you  to  the  number  of  men,  or  the  wis- 
dom of  men,  but  to  the  simple  record  of  what 
Jesus  was,  said,  and  did,  for  the  proof  which 
we  have  to  offer  that  there  is  but  one  God, 
the  Father. 

TRINITARIAN   LANGUAGE   UNSCRIPTURAL. 

In  examining  the  New  Testament,  we  find 
a  strong  argument  for  our  faith  in  the  fact 
that  we  nowhere  meet  the  words  which  are 
always  used  in  stating  the  opposite  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity.  Trinity,  Triune  God^  Jeliovali 
Jesus,  Godrman,  are  nowhere  met  with.  We 
find  no  mention  of  the  first,  second,  or  third 
person  of  the  Godhead.  We  look  for  "  God 
the  Son,"  and  find  only  the  "  Son  of  God." 


24  •  ONE   GOD  —  THE   FATHER. 

We  look  for  "  God  the  Holy  Spirit,*'  and  find 
only  the  "  Spirit  of  God,"  or  the  "  Holy  Spir- 
it." You  do  not  believe  a  principle  of  gov- 
ernment is  constitutional  if  it  cannot  be  stated 
in  constitutional  terms ;  and  we  do  not  believe 
any  doctrine  to  be  Scriptural  which  cannot 
be  stated  in  Scriptural  terms. 

Only  three  passages  in  the  common  version 
of  the  New  Testament  seem  to  mention  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Spirit  in  one  sentence. 
One  of  these  is  the  baptismal  formula  (Matt, 
xxviii.  19),  which  all  Unitarians  can  use,  be- 
cause it  does  not  say  that  the  three  who  are 
mentioned  are  equal,  or  that  each  one  is  God, 
and  therefore  it  is  no  statement  of  a  Trinity. 
Another  passage  is  the  apostolic  benediction 
(2  Cor.  xiii.  14),  "The  grace  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,"  &c.  ;  but  it  is  not  said  that 
each  is  God,  or  that  all  are  equal,  and  there- 
fore it  is  no  statement  of  a  Trinity.  One 
more  text,  as  our  common  version  stands 
(1  John  V.  7),  mentions  the  Father,  the  Word, 
and  the    Holy  Ghost,  and  says  "  these  three 


ONE   GOD  —  THE   FATHER.  25 

are  one."  But  the  impartial  scholars  of  every 
denomination  now  agree  in  rejecting  the  pas- 
sage as  being  the  production  of  a  later  age, 
and  not  written  by  the  apostle ;  and  Calvin, 
who  thought  that  John  wrote  it,  still  says  it 
does  not  refer  to  the  Trinity,  but  only  means 
that  the  three  bear  one  record,  are  one  in 
their  testimony. 

ONLY   ONE   GOD. 

While  we  cannot  find  in  the  Bible  a  state- 
ment of  the  Trinity,  we  do  meet  passages 
which  expressly  declare  that  the  Father  alone 
is  God.  Jesus  says  in  his  prayer  to  the  Fa- 
ther, "  That  they  might  know  thee,  the  only 
true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  thou  hast 
sent."  To  the  same  effect  we  have  the  words 
of  Paul :  "  There  is  one  God,  and  one  Media- 
tor between  God  and  men,  the  man  Christ 
.Jesus ; "  and  also,  "  To  us  there  is  but  one 
God,  the  Father,  and  .  .  .  one  Lord,  Jesus 
Christ."  These  texts  are  very  positive.  They 
declare   in    plain,   absolute    terms,   that   the 


26  ONE   GOD  —  THE   FATHER. 

Father  only  is  God.  The  doctrine  which  wc 
preach  could  not  be  asserted  more  strongly, 
and  we  ou2:ht  not  to  be  turned  from  our  faith 
by  inferences  of  an  opposite  kind  which  might 
be  drawn  from  more  obscure  passages. 

JESUS'   OWN  TESTIMONY. 

The  conclusion  to  which  we  have  just  ar 
rived  is  strengthened  by  the  testimony  of 
Jesus  respecting  himself :  "  I  came  not  to  do 
mine  own  will; "  "  lean  of  myself  do  nothing ; " 
"  The  Father  that  is  in  me,  he  doeth  the 
works ; "  "I  ascend  to  my  Father  and  your 
Father;  and  to  my  God  and  your  God." 
Who  can  read  these  words  and  still  think 
that  Jesus  represents  himself  as  the  supreme 
Divinity,  the  independent  God  ?  He  does 
indeed,  on  one  occasion,  say,  "  I  and  my 
Father  are  one  ; "  but  that  he  meant  a  unity 
of  purpose,  design,  and  will,  is  evident  from 
his  subsequent  prayer  for  his  disciples,  "  That 
they  all  may  be  one  ;  as  thou.  Father,  art  in 
me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one 


ONE   GOD  —  THE   FATHER.  27 

in  US."  And  again  he  says,  "  That  they  may 
be  one,  even  as  we  are  one."  It  is  possible 
then  for  us  all  to  be  one,  in  exactly  the  same 
sense  that  the  words  apply  to  the  relation  of 
Jesus  to  the  Father ;  and  this  is  not  simply 
a  Unitarian  interpretation,  but  is  given  very 
positively  by  John  Calvin  himself. 

COiNFESSIONS    OF   FAITH. 

It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  the  earliest  con- 
fessions of  faith  contain  no  reference  to  the 
Trinity,  but  are  such  as  we  Unitarians  use. 
Such  was  the  confession  of  Peter :  "  Thou 
art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God ; " 
and  this  seems  to  have  satisfied  Jesus  per- 
fectly. Such,  too,  was  the  confession  of  Mar- 
tha :  "  I  believe  that  thou  art  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God  ;  "  and  this,  which  we  all  can  say, 
was  deemed  sufficient.  The  reason  also 
which  John  gave  for  writing  his  Gospel  does 
not  make  the  slightest  allusion  to  the  doctrine 
of  a  Trinity  ;  it  was  simply,  "  That  ye  might 
believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the   Son  of 


28  ONE   GOD  — THE   FATHER. 

God."  If,  as  is  sometimes  asserted,  the  fourth 
Gospel  was  written  to  prove  the  supreme 
divinity  of  Jesus,  it  is  strange  that  in  sum- 
ming up  the  book  the  writer  does  not  make 
the  slightest  allusion  to  any  such  doctrine. 
We  are  willing  to  abide  by  the  testimony  of 
the  apostles,  and  declare  our  faith  in  "  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  a  man  approved  of  God  among 
you  by  miracles  and  wonders  and  signs, 
which  God  did  by  him  in  the  midst  of  you." 
We  compare  our  doctrine  with  the  whole 
testimony  which  we  have  concerning  the 
Saviour's  life  and  teachings,  and  then  say, 
without  any  hesitation,  that  however  difficult 
it  may  be  to  determine  his  precise  nature 
and  rank,  we  are  fully  convinced  that  he  is 
everywhere  spoken  of  as  a  separate  being 
from  God. 

GOD   AND   SATAN. 

To  us,  then,  there  is  but  one  God.  He  is 
the  sole  ruling  power  in  the  universe,  and  all 
things,  above  and  below,  are  forced  to  obey 
his  will.     Therefore  we  reject  the   old   idea 


ONE   GOD  —  THE    FATHER.  29 

that  any  Satan  divides  the  sovereignty  of  the 
universe  with  the  Almighty,  and  wages  cease- 
less war  against  Him  for  the  possession  of 
human  souls.  Evil  spirits  there  are,  out  of 
the  body  as  well  as  in,  but  all  of  them  com- 
bined can  no  more  be  compared  with  God, 
than  a  single  mote  which  floats  in  the  sun- 
beam can  be  compared  with  this  whole  uni- 
verse of  matter.  All  power  belongs  to  One  ; 
and  we  are  persuaded,  "  that  neither  death, 
nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor 
powers,  .  .  .  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be 
able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God." 

THE    FATHER. 

And  this  one  God  is  in  the  truest  sense  a 
Father.  We  use  that  word,  which  Jesus  so 
often  employed,  without  any  restriction  what- 
ever as  to  its  meaning.  It  declares  that  we 
not  only  hold  to  Him  the  relation  of  a  creat- 
xire  to  the  Creator,  but  still  more  that  of  a 
child  to  a  parent  who  watches  over  him  with 
constant  tenderness  and  love.     "  As  a  father 


30  ONE   GOD  —  THE   FATHER. 

pitieth  his  children,  so  the  Lord  pitieth  them 
that  fear  him."  As  a  father  watcheth  over 
his  children  with  an  impartial  love,  so  the 
Lord  "  maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and 
on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and 
on  the  unjust."  As  a  father  corrects  a  child's 
faults,  not  in  anger,  but  mercy,  so  the  Lord 
chastens  us  not  for  his  pleasure  but  our  profit, 
that  we  may  be  partakers  of  his  holiness.  As 
a  father  welcomes  back  a  penitent  child  to 
the  paternal  home,  so  the  Lord  sees  the  prod- 
igal while  yet  he  is  a  great  way  off,  and  has 
compassion  on  him,  and  folds  him  in  the  em- 
brace of  his  love.  Unqualifiedly,  without  any 
limitations.  He  is  the  Father  of  the  whole 
human  race,  and  should  receive  the  supreme 
love  of  our  hearts,  the  highest  service  of  our 
lives. 


LECTURE    III. 

WHAT  THINK  YE   OF   CHRIST? 

'VT'E  believe  in  God,  said  Jesus ;  and  in  our 
last  lecture  we  replied,  Yes,  we  do  be- 
lieve in  Him.  We  believe  in  the  one  being, 
who  fills  the  whole  universe  with  his  pres- 
ence, and  is  the  kind  and  loving  Father  of  us 
all. 

Believe  also  in  me,  continued  Jesus ;  and 
we  reply,  to-day.  Yes,  we  do  believe  in  thee. 
We  believe  in  the  messenger  who  brought  as- 
surance of  heavenly  pardon  and  peace ;  in  the 
Great  Teacher,  whose  words,  more  than  all 
others,  have  shown  the  ways  of  God  to  man ; 
in  the  well-beloved  Son,  through  whose  life 
and  character  are  revealed  those  heavenly  vir- 
tues which  make  us  regard  him  as  the  bright- 
ness of  the  Father's  glory. 


32  WHAT   THINK    YE   OF   CHRIST  ? 

BELIEF   IN   CHRIST. 

But  exactly  what  is  meant  by  believing  in 
Christ?  It  does  not  commit  us  in  any  way 
to  the  statements  which  others  have  made 
concerning  him,  whether  in  past  times  or  the 
present.  It  means  simply  that  we  accept  him 
for  just  what  he  claims  to  be,  whatever  that 
is.  It  declares  that  we  do  not  regard  him  as 
an  impostor  or  a  fanatic,  as  self-deceived,  or 
wilfully  deceiving  others,  but  as  being  in  real- 
ity exactly  what  he  himself  believed.  It  is 
possible  for  one  to  regard  Christ's  character 
with  admiration,  and  put  a  high  value  upon 
his  teachings,  while  yet  thinking  him  to  have 
been  mistaken  in  some  of  his  claims ;  and  such 
a  one  cannot  be  said  to  believe  in  him,  any 
more  than,  he  believes  in  an  ambassador  whose 
credentials  are  forged,  or  in  a  physician  whose 
skill  he  greatly  doubts.  For  ourselves  we  use 
language  in  its  common  acceptation  when  we 
say  that  we  believe  in  Christ,  because  we 
believe  him  to  have  been  exactly  what  he 
claimed. 


WHAT   THINK    YE   OF   CHRIST  ?  33 


CHRIST   AND   GOD. 

When,  therefore,  the  question  is  raised 
about  the  nature  of  Jesus,  we  turn  away  from 
the  creeds  of  the  churches  and  simply  ask, 
What  did  he  himself  claim  to  be  ?  We  find 
on  examination  that  he  always  claimed  a  pow- 
er and  rank  far  beyond  that  of  any  other  re- 
ligious teacher.  There  was  an  authority  in  his 
words,  "  I  say  unto  you,"  and  an  assurance  in 
his  declaration,  "  my  words  shall  not  pass 
away,"  which  no  one  else  among  the  spiritual 
leaders  of  humanity  ever  assumed.  You 
may  modify  this  statement,  that  all  power  is 
given  unto  him  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  ac- 
cording to  all  the  rules  of  language,  and 
still  it  will  mean  something  which  no  other 
law-giver  dared  say  unless  in  moments  of 
wildest  fanaticism ;  and  the  way  in  which  he 
joined  himself  with  the  Father  in  the  bap- 
tismal formula,  has  in  it  very  great  irrever- 
ence, unless  it  teaches  some  exalted  position 
on  his  part.     He  calls  himself  the  bread  from 


34  WHAT   THINK   YE   OF   CHRIST? 

heaven  which  can  satisfy  hungry  souls ;  the 
true  liofht  which  shines  for  all  who  were  in 
darkness ;  the  door  through  which  we  pass 
into  the  kingdom  of  heavenly  peace.  In  short, 
he  regarded  himself  as  the  way,  the  truth,  and 
the  life;  and  while  he  would  have  us  stand  on 
the  platform  of  equality,  regarding  each  other 
simply  as  brethren,  he  bids  us  remember  that 
we  have  a  Master,  even  Christ.  It  is  not 
strange  that  the  Jews  declared  no  one  else 
ever  spoke  like  him ;  and  should  any  one 
whom  we  know  speak  in  this  way,  we  should 
pronounce  him  guilty  of  gross  blasphemy,  or 
else  the  victim  of  complete  madness.  When 
we  consider  that  these  are  not  isolated  pas- 
sages in  the  life  of  Jesus,  but  are  so  numerous 
and  so  closely  connected  with  his  whole  biog- 
raphy that  whoever  strikes  them  out  of  the 
Gospels  destroys  the  whole  history,  and  leaves 
but  an  unmeaning  mass  of  words  behind,  we 
cannot  resist  the  conviction  that  Jesus  claimed 
a  peculiar  power,  insight,  and  inspiration ;  and, 
as  believers  in  him,  we  admit  whatever  he 
claimed. 


WHAT   THINK    YE   OF    CHRIST?  35 

But  in  believing  him  to  have  been  the  in- 
spired messenger  of  God,  we  nowhere  find  that 
he  claims  to  be  God  himself.  With  all  his 
knowledge,  he  did  not  claim  to  know  every 
thing,  but  declared  there  was  a  day  and  hour 
of  which  he  was  ignorant,  and  which  his 
Father,  only,  knew.  Great  as  was  his  power, 
he  was  not  almighty ;  for  he  asserted  that  of 
himself  he  could  do  nothing,  and  whatever 
strength  he  had  was  given  unto  him.  Inti- 
mately as  he  was  joined  to  the  Father,  he  had 
a  mind  and  will  entirelv  distinct  from  that  of 
God,  as  he  shows  in  his  words  to  the  Jews : 
"  It  is  also  written  in  your  law  that  the  testi- 
mony of  tioo  men  is  true.  I  am  one  that  bear 
witness  of  myself,  and  the  Father  that  sent 
me  beareth  witness  of  me."  Whatever,  there- 
fore, be  the  exact  nature  of  Jesus,  all  Unita- 
rians accept  the  literal  truth  of  the  declaration 
he  made,  "  My  Father  is  greater  than  I." 
Some  of  our  number  believe  that  he  occupies 
an  intermediate  rank  between  God  and  man, 
and  existed  in  the  heavenly  world  before  his 


36  WHAT  THINK   YE   OF   CHRIST  ? 

birth  in  Bethlehem ;  but  the  majority,  so  far 
as  I  can  learn,  regard  him  as  possessed  of  a 
truly  human  nature,  which  was  so  endowed 
with  spiritual  power  and  insight  beyond  any 
other,  as  to  make  him  the  spiritual  leader  of 
mankind.  We  speak  of  him,  therefore,  as 
one  whom  the  Father  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit,  instead  of  giving  it  by  measure  unto 
him ;  and  we  preach  to-day,  what  the  apostles 
did  of  old,  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  a  man  approved 
of  God  among  you  by  miracles  and  wonders 
and  signs,  which  God  did  by  him  in  the  midst 
of  you." 

CHRIST. AND   MAN. 

The  relation  of  Christ  to  the  Father  may 
safely  be  left  to  that  future  hour  when  all  mys- 
teries shall  be  revealed.  By  and  by  we  shall 
go  to  the  spirit-world  where  we  can  see  Jesus 
face  to  face,  and  settle,  by  a  few  short  ques- 
tions and  replies,  the  whole  controversy  about 
the  place  and  time  when  his  conscious  exist- 
ence began.  All  that  concerns  us  now  is  the 
relation  he  bears  to  us.     We  turn  away  from 


WHAT  THINK   YE  OF    CHRIST?  37 

the  idle  speculations  which  have  too  long  en- 
grossed the  Church,  to  inquire  what  benefits 
he  has  conferred  upon  the  human  race,  and 
whether  he  can  truly  give  those  who  believe 
in  him  power  to  become  sons  of  God.  The 
subject  might  be  presented  in  many  ways; 
but,  as  a  great  many  titles  are  usually  applied 
to  Jesus,  I  wish  to  show  on  the  present  oc- 
casion in  what  sense  they  can  be  rightly  em- 
ployed. 

I.    CHRIST   THE   GREAT   TEACHER. 

We  call  him  the  Great  Teacher  whose 
words  come  with  authority  to  the  human 
mind.  But  we  must  not  liken  this  authority 
to  that  of  an  Eastern  king  who  makes  his  ar- 
bitrary will  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  and 
binds  all  men  by  his  word,  simply  because  it 
is  his  word,  whether  it  be  true  or  false,  right 
or  wrong.  It  is  rather  the  authority  of  one 
who  does  not  make  truth,  but  only  discerns 
it ;  who  does  not  establish  new  laws,  but  sim- 
ply proclaims  those  which   God  ordained  in 


38  WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST  ? 

the  beginning.  His  authority  is  that  of  a 
guide,  who  has  thoroughly  explored  the  coun- 
try into  which  you  are  just  venturing ;  of  a 
pilot,  who  has  sounded  and  marked  every  spot 
in  the  channels  of  the  harbor;  of  a  citizen, 
who  has  been  through  every  street,  lane,  and 
alley  where  you  might  get  bewildered.  You 
may  disregard  the  guide,  and  get  lost  in  the 
swamps ;  disregard  the  pilot,  and  wreck 
your  bark  on  the  shoals ;  disregard  the  citi- 
zen's directions,  and  lose  your  way  in  the 
great  metropolis :  but  you  cannot  justly  pre- 
tend that  your  freedom  has  been  infringed 
upon,  simply  because  some  one  has  told  you 
the  right  way.  Such  we  believe  to  be  the 
authority  of  Jesus. 

II.    CHRIST   THE   MEDIATOR. 

Christ  is  spoken  of  as  a  mediator,  and  his 
ministry  as  a  ministry  of  reconciliation.  The 
object  of  a  mediator  is  to  unite  those  who, 
from  any  cause  whatever,  are  at  variance  with 
each  other,  and  therefore  his  precise  work  will 


WHAT  THINK    YE   OF    CHRIST  ?  39 

vary  with  the  degree  and  cause  of  alienation 
between  two  parties  ;  for  sometimes  both  will 
be  filled  with  so  much  bitterness  that  they  will 
equally  need  to  be  appeased,  and  at  other 
times  the  guilt  or  folly  of  one  will  be  the  sole 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  perfect  agreement.  Ac- 
cording to  the  creed  of  many  churches,  the 
great  hindrance  to  pardon  and  peace  was 
some  feeling  on  the  part  of  God  —  either  an- 
ger, because  his  law  had  been  broken,  or  a 
fear  that  the  majesty  of  his  law  would  be  dis- 
honored if  he  forgave  us  as  freely  as  he  bids 
us  forgive  each  other.  But  the  instant  you 
turn  to  the  Bible  you  are  told  that  the  only 
obstacle  to  pardon  was  on  the  part  of  man. 
The  separation  was  caused  by  the  sins  of  the 
children,  not  the  anger  of  the  Father.  He 
was  always  ready  to  forgive  those  who  would 
repent;  and  the  sole  work  which  Jesus  had, 
as  mediator,  was  to  lead  men  to  that  true 
penitence  where  they  would  seek  and  obtain 
forgiveness.  Hence  the  only  ministry  of  re- 
conciliation  spoken  of  is,  that   God  was  in 


40  WHAT  THINK   YE   OF  CHRIST  ? 

Christ  reconciling  the  world  to  himself —  not 
reconciling  himself  to  the  world ;  and  the 
prayer  which  went  up  from  the  apostle's 
heart  was,  that  ye  might  be  reconciled  unto 
God  —  not  that  He  might  be  reconciled  to  you. 
Jesus  and  his  early  followers  always  teach 
that  whenever  men  come  to  the  Father  with 
true  penitence  and  love,  the  reconciliation  is 
complete. 

III.    CHRIST   OUR   ATONEMENT. 

This  shows  us,  also,  what  is  meant  by  the 
atonement  which  we  have  received  through 
Jesus.  We  often  speak  as  though  it  meant 
some  expiation  which  he  made  for  the  sins  of 
the  people,  some  penalty  he  paid,  or  some 
suffering  he  endured  in  their  stead.  But  in 
the  Bible  the  words  atonement  and  reconcilia- 
tion have  exactly  the  same  meaning,  and  are 
translations  of  the  same  word.  According  to 
old  English  usage,  atonement  is  simply  at-one- 
ment,  that  is,  reconciliation ;  and  the  proof  of 
this  is  as  conclusive  as  it  is  simple.    Our  com- 


WHAT  THINK   YE   OF  CHRIST?  41 

mon  version  of  the  Bible  was  first  published 
in  1611.  and  if  you  turn  to  the  English  writers 
of  that  and  an  earlier  day,  you  will  find  this 
to  be  the  only  meaning  of  the  word  we  are 
now  considering.  Thus,  Sir  Thomas  More 
speaks  of  "  The  late  made  atonement  in  whyche 
the  king's  pleasure  had  more  place  than  the 
partie's  willes."  In  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's 
Spanish  Curate  we  read,  "  I  have  been  aton- 
ing tv70  most  wrangling  neighbors;"  and  in 
Othello,  when  Desdemona  is  asked,  "  Is  there 
division  'twixt  my  lord  and  Cassio  ?  "  she  re- 
plies, *'  A  most  unhappy  one  ;  I  would  do 
much  t'  atone  them  for  the  love  I  bear  to 
Cassio."  The  translators  of  the  Bible  must 
have  used  words  in  the  same  sense  as  their 
contemporaries,  and  hence  in  speaking  of  the 
atonement  which  Jesus  effected,  they  must 
have  meant  the  reconciliation  of  man  to 
God. 

IV.    CHRIST   THE   SAVIOUR. 

The  term  Saviour  is  applied  to  Jesus  by  Uni- 
tarians as  well  as  Trinitarians,  but  in  a  differ- 


42  WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST  ? 

ent  and,  as  we  think,  a  truer  sense.  We  do 
not  believe  that  he  saves  us  from  the  power  of 
Satan,  for  we  deny  that  any  such  being  has 
control  of  human  souls;  we  do  not  believe 
he  saves  us  from  the  wrath  of  God,  for  we 
deny  that  the  Father  has  any  such  feeling 
towards  his  children ;  we  do  not  beJieve  that 
he  saves  us  from  all  the  evil  consequences  of 
our  sins,  for  every  one  knows  by  observation, 
if  not  experience,  that  many  of  these  conse- 
quences remain  long  after  repentance  and 
reformation,  in  spite  of  our  tears  and  prayers. 
But  he  saves  us  from  the  sins  which  corrupt 
our  souls  and  make  us  unfit  for  the  life  which 
now  is  and  that  which  is  to  come.  We 
call  him  Saviour  to-day,  for  the  same  reason 
that  the  angel  declared  he  should  be  called 
Jesus,  because  he  shall  save  his  people  from 
their  sins. 

V.   CHRIST   CRUCIFIED. 

But  it  may  be  asked  what,  according  to  this 
view,  was  the  effect  of  Christ's  suffering  and 
death  ?     We  certainly  believe   they  had   an 


WHAT  THINK   YE   OF  CHRIST?  43 

effect  on  us,  but  not  upon  God.  The  apostle, 
in  speaking  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  does  not 
hint  at  any  influence  it  had  upon  the  Father, 
but  only  declares  that  it  deanseth  us  from  sin; 
and  when  Christ's  death  is  spoken  of  as  an 
agent  in  the  reconciliation,  the  simple  state- 
ment is  that  we  were  reconciled  to  God  in  this 
way,  not  that  he  was  reconciled  to  us.  Jesus, 
likewise,  in  speaking  of  the  effect  of  his  cruci- 
fixion, does  not  claim  that  it  will  make  his 
Father  merciful,  but  only  says,  "  I,  if  I  be 
lifted  up  from  the  earth  (that  is,  crucified),  will 
draw  all  men  unto  me."  And  the  history  of 
the  Church  has  clearly  shown,  that,  in  all  ages 
and  among  all  nations,  the  sufferhigs  and 
death  of  Christ  have  played  an  important 
part  in  bringing  men  to  God.  Not  his  turn- 
ing of  water  to  wine  at  Cana  of  Galilee  ;  not 
his  feeding  the  thousands  by  the  lake  side,  or 
raising  Mary's  brother  or  the  widow's  son  to 
life ;  not  these,  or  any  miracles  he  performed, 
however  wonderful,  or  any  works,  however 
great,  reach  the  depths  of  our  inmost  hearts. 


44  WHAT  THINK   YE  OF  CHRIST  ? 

We  turn  from  all  he  did  in  health  and 
strength,  to  gaze  upon  the  cross  where  he 
hangs  helpless  and  alone.  From  that  up- 
lifted form  shines  out  a  love  which  melts  the 
heart  and  draws  us  all  to  him.  When  life's 
sorrows  press  heavily,  when  its  temptations 
entice,  its  duties  reprove,  and  its  sins  torment, 
we  turn  to  Calvary,  if  we  would  learn  to  say, 
"  Thy  will  be  done."  And  when  time  rolls 
on,  and  every  nation  at  last  is  filled  with  love 
for  him,  it  will  result,  not  from  any  teachings 
he  gave  or  miracles  he  wrought,  so  much  as 
from  his  patient  endurance  unto  death,  even 
the  death  of  the  cross. 

VI.    CHRIST   OUR    HEAVENLY   BROTHER. 

To  sum  up  all,  we  regard  Christ  as  our 
heavenly  brother,  to  whom  we  look  with  a  fer- 
vent love.  We  recognize  in  his  teachings  the 
true  light  which  reveals  the  way  to  eterna 
life  We  see  in  him  the  highest  revelation 
which  has  yet  been  made  of  the  fatherhood 
of  God,  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  the  joy- 


WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST?  45 

ful  immortality  of  the  human  soul.  We  are 
grateful  to  him  for  those  glad  tidings  of  great 
joy  which  he  brought  to  all  people;  and  when 
we  look  at  the  whole  spirit  in  which  his  mis- 
sion was  performed,  we  long  to  be  classed 
among  his  disciples  and  friends.  When,  there- 
fore, ^ve  hear  his  voice  saying,  "  Ye  believe  in 
God,  believe  also  in  me,"  we  reply,  with  sin- 
cere hearts.  We  do  believe  in  thee ;  and  on 
rising  from  this  examination  of  all  that  he  was, 
and  said,  and  did,  we  repeat  with  truthful  lips 
the  apostle's  words,  "  Lord,  thou  knowest  all 
things ;  thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee." 


LECTURE    IV. 

"THE    SON    OF    GOD." 

XN  the  previous  lecture,  I  showed  the  mean- 
ing which  we,  as  Unitarians,  attach  to  the 
various  titles  which  are  applied,  in  the  New 
Testament,  to  Christ.  One  of  his  titles,  how- 
ever, is  so  prominent  in  the  Gospels,  that  it 
deserves  a  special  consideration.  He  is  called 
"  The  Son  of  God ; "  and  I  wish  now  to 
show,  first,  what  is  the  general  meaning  of 
this  phrase ;  and,  secondly,  whether  it  had  an 
unusual  meaning  when  applied  to  him. 

COMMON  MEANING  OP  THE  PHRASE. 

First,  then,  what  was  the  common  use  of 
the  phrase,  "  Son  of  God,"  among  the  Jews? 

Angels  were,  in  early  times,  called  His 
sons,  as  in   Gen.  vi.  2,  where  they  are  said 


"THE  SON  OF   GOD."  47 

to  have  married  the  daughters  of  men,  —  and 
in  two  or  three  passages  of  the  Book  of  Job. 
They,  doubtless,  gained  the  title  from  the 
great  dignity  of  their  nature,  or  else  from 
the  idea  that  they  held  a  peculiarly  intimate 
relation  to  Jehovah.  This  usage  of  the  words 
is  confined  to  the  most  ancient  traditions, 
and  does  not  occur  once  in  the  later  Hebrew 
records. 

We  next  find  the  phrase  used  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  collectively.  Thus,  in  Hosea 
xi.  1 :  "  When  Israel  was  a  child,  then  I  loved 
him,  and  called  my  son  out  of  Egypt;''  and 
the  same  writer  says,  "  Ye  are  the  sons  of  the 
living  God."  The  prophets  often  spoke  of 
God  as  the  Father  of  the  Jewish  nation. 

In  the  New  Testament,  we  find  Christian 
believers  spoken  of  as  sons  of  God,  from  their 
spiritual  regeneration.  "  To  them  gave  he 
power  to  become  sons  of  God  "  (John  i.  12). 
"  Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God  "  (1 
John  iii.  2).  So  it  is  throughout  the  Epis- 
tles, and  in  many  parts  of  the  Gospels. 


48  "THE    SON   OF    GOD." 


In  certain  poetic  passages,  God  is  called  the 
Father  of  the  material  bodies  which  he  has 
created ;  but  the  correlative  title,  "  Son  of 
God,"  is  not  applied  to  the  created  thing. 
This  same  use  of  the  term  is  found  in  mod- 
ern poetry  also. 

According  to  common  usage,  therefore,  at 
the  beginning  of  our  era,  the  phrase  Son  of 
God  denoted  either  an  Israelite,  considered 
as  one  of  the  chosen  people,  or  a  Christian, 
considered  as  having  God's  spirit,  and  being 
dear  to  the  heavenly  Father.  The  idea  of 
"  proper  filiation  "  —  any  peculiar  relation,  by 
birth,  to  the  Deity  —  does  not  seem  to  have 
occurred  to  the  Jewish  mind ;  a  man's  moral 
character,  or  his  spiritual  relation  to  the 
Deity,  alone  was  thought  of.  The  same  use 
of  language  that  made  them  call  the  wise 
"  the  children  of  Wisdom,"  and  the  wicked 
"  the  children  of  the  Devil,"  would  lead  them 
to  call  the  good  "  the  children  of  God."  All 
were,  indeed,  created  by  Jehovah,  and  there- 
fore,  as   will   hereafter  be    shown,   were,    in 


"  THE   SON  OP  GOD."  49 

a  true  and  exalted  sense,  his  children  ;  but 
only  those  whose  characters  were  most  ac- 
ceptable to  him,  were  called,  with  peculiar 
emphasis,  the  sons  of  God.  Hence,  in  the 
apocryphal  book  of  Wisdom  (ii.  18),  it  is  said, 
"  If  the  just  man  be  the  son  of  God,  he  will 
help  him,  and  deliver  him  from  the  hand  of 
his  enemies."  As  this  is  one  of  the  latest 
of  Jev/ish  writings  before  the  time  of  Christ, 
it  must  be  good  authority  for  the  use  of  Jew- 
ish phrases  ;  and  it  shows  clearly  that  the 
term  "  sonship,"  when  denoting  any  thing 
more  than  the  relation  which  we  all  sustain 
to  the  Creator,  referred  only  to  character,  and 
not  to  peculiarities  of  either  nature  or  birth. 
Unless,  therefore,  there  is  reason  to  suppose 
that  the  title  was  applied  to  Jesus  in  an  unu- 
sual sense,  we  must  infer  that  he  was  called 
pre-eminently  the  son  of  God  from  his  good- 
ness, purity,  and  spiritual  life,  not  from  any 
difference  between  his  nature  and  ours. 


% 

50  "THE    SON  OF  GOD." 

HOW   APPLIED   TO  JESUS. 

"Was,  then,  the  title  applied  to  Jesus  in  an 
unusual  sense  ?  This  is  a  question  to  be 
answered  by  considering  the  qualifying  phrases 
with  which  the  words  are  used. 

He  was  called  the  "  only-begotten  son," 
—  from  which  some  have  inferred  a  marked 
difference,  in  nature,  between  him  and  our- 
selves. This  would  have  been  a  just  infer- 
ence if  the  term  "  only-begotten  "  had  always 
kept  its  etymological  meaning ;  but  this  was 
not  so.  For  the  corresponding  Hebrew  word 
occurs  twelve  times  in  the  Old  Testament; 
but  when  Jewish  scholars,  before  the  Chris- 
tian era,  brought  out  their  famous  Greek  ver- 
sion of  that  book,  they  translated  this  word 
only  three  times  by  "  only-begotten,"  v/hile, 
in  eight  other  cases,  they  translated  it  by 
"  loved,"  "  beloved,"  or  some  similar  term. 
Now,  this  fact,  that  the  same  Hebrew  ex- 
pression meant  both  "  only-begotten "  and 
"  beloved,"  shows  that  these  two  terms  were 


"THE   SON   OF   GOD."  51 

regarded  as,  in  many  cases,  equivalent  by 
those  who  translated  the  Old  Testament  into 
Greek.  The  authors  of  our  common  English 
version  had  the  same  opinion ;  for  they  ren- 
dered the  word  by  "  dear,"  "  beloved,"  or 
some  such  term  of  affection.  In  Psa.  xxxv.  17, 
it  is  rendered  "  darling,"  —  "  Rescue  my  soul 
from  their  destruction,  my  darling  from  the 
lions."  Indeed,  there  is  one  case  in  the  New 
Testament,  where  the  phrase  cannot  possibly 
mean  what  we  do  by  "  only  son ; "  for  it  is 
written  (Heb.  xi.  17),  "  By  faith  Abraham, 
when  he  was  tried,  offered  up  Isaac :  and  he 
that  had  received  the  promises  offered  up  his 
only -begotten  son."  But,  as  an  historical  fact, 
Isaac  had  an  elder  brother,  and  of  course  was 
not  an  07ily  son  ;  and  this  name  could  have 
been  given  him  only  from  the  great  affection 
his  father  cherished  for  him. 

Therefore,  we  believe  that  the  term  only- 
begotten  son,  when  applied  to  Jesus,  is  sim- 
ply a  term  of  endearment,  and  corresponds  to 
"  well-beloved  son." 


62  "  THE   SON  OF  GOD." 

The  name  of  "  first-begotten  "  is  also  ap- 
plied to  him ;  yet  a  little  examination  shows 
that  this  does  not  necessarily  refer  to  time  of 
birth,  but  rather  to  the  estimation  or  favor 
in  which  he  was  held.  Hence,  Ex.  iv.  22,  says, 
"  Israel  is  my  son,  even  my  first-born ; "  —  not 
in  point  of  time,  surely.  So  Psa.  Ixxxix.  27, 
says  of  David,  "  I  will  make  him  my  first- 
born, higher  than  the  kings  of  the  earth ; " 
and  Jer.  xxxi.  9  :  "  I  am  a  father,  and  Ephraim 
is  my  first-born," — which,  of  course,  was  not 
true  in  the  sense  of  priority  of  birth.  Now, 
when  we  have  four  different  "  first-born  sons  " 
spoken  of,  —  as  Israel,  David,  Ephraim,  and 
Jesus,  —  the  word  is  clearly  used  to  express 
only  the  favor  in  which  a  being  is  held,  and 
not  any  peculiarity  of  nature  or  birth. 

But  it  is  still  claimed  by  some  that  Jesus 
is  called  God's  0W7i  son,  and  that  this  is 
so  emphatic  as  to  show  a  peculiar  relation 
between  him  and  the  Father  of  us  all.  Yet, 
if  you  examine  the  scriptural  use  of  that  ex- 
pression, you  will  find  that,  like  the  preceding 


"  THE   SON   OF  GOD."  53 

ones,  it  denotes  only  the  affection  in  which  a 
son  is  held.  It  was  even  used  where  no  real 
filial  relationship  existed,  as  where  Paul  called 
Timothy  his  "  own  son,"  and  his  "  dearly- 
beloved  son,"  and  then  writes  to  Titus  as  his 
"  own  son,"  too.  But,  in  these  cases,  the  re- 
lationship was  purely  spiritual;  and  hence, 
when  the  term  is  applied  to  Christ,  we  simply 
infer  that  he  was  peculiarly  loved  by  the  Fa- 
ther of  us  all. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  qualifying 
words  of  which  we  have  been  speaking, — 
"  own,"  "  only-begotten,"  "  first-born,"  —  are 
sometimes  used  literally ;  but  since  they  are 
so  often  used  figuratively,  the  mere  words 
themselves  afford  no  reason  for  supposing 
that  Jesus  is  a  son  of  God  in  any  different 
sense  from  that  in  which  all  the  pure  and 
good  are.  If  now  we  look  at  the  circum- 
stances in  which  the  title  was  applied  to  him, 
we  shall  see  that  it  had  only  the  common 
meaning.  The  beginning  of  John's  Gospel 
implies  that  all  Christians  are  sons  as  truly  as 


54  "THE  SON  OF  GOD." 

Jesus  was  ;  for  it  says,  "  But  as  many  as  re- 
ceived him,  to  them  gave  he  power  to  become 
sons  of  God :  which  were  born,  not  of  blood, 
. .  .  but  of  God.  And  the  word  became  flesh 
.  .  .  and  we  beheld  his  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the 
only-begotten  of  the  Father." 

Nathanael's  strong  profession  of  faith  in 
Jesus  (John  i.  49)  is  inconsistent  with  any 
idea  of  peculiar  relationship  between  him  and 
the  Father :  "  Rabbi,  thou  art  the  son  of 
God  ;  thou  art  the  king  of  Israel."  If  the 
speaker  had  regarded  Jesus  as  of  the  "  same 
substance  "  with  the  Father,  —  as  "  very  God 
of  very  God,"  —  could  he  have  addressed  him 
as  "  Rabbi,"  that  is,  "  Doctor  ?  " 

Again,  in  John  x.  35,  36,  Jesus  makes  no 
other  claim  to  the  title  son  of  God  than  the 
simple  fact  that  he  is  the  one  "  whom  the 
Father  hath  sanctified,  and  sent  into  the 
world."  No  difference  of  nature  or  substance 
between  him  and  us  is  even  alluded  to  by 
him. 

In  opposition  to  all  that  has  been  said,  T 


"THE  SON   OP   GOD."  55 

fii)d  but  one  expression  which  gives  a  different 
account  of  the  origin  of  the  title,  when  ap- 
plied to  Jesus.  In  the  beginning  of  Luke,  it 
says,  "  Therefore  also,  that  holy  thing  which 
shall  be  born  of  thee,  shall  be  called  the  son 
of  God."  But  even  if  this  account  of  his  birth 
is  one  reason  why  some  have  called  him  the 
son  of  God,  it  is  not  the  only  or  the  com- 
mon one,  and  is  never  alluded  to,  subse- 
quently, by  either  Jesus  or  his  apostles,  in  any 
of  their  recorded  words.  Moreover,  no  pecul- 
iar mode  of  birth  made  any  difference  to  his 
nature ;  and  what  Luke  wrote  does  not  con- 
flict with  Paul's  use  of  language  in  such 
expressions  as  "  the  man   Christ  Jesus." 

JESUS   A   SON. 

This  title,  then,  was  applied  to  Jesus  be- 
cause his  character  was  so  acceptable  to  the 
Father  as  to  make  him  peculiarly  an  object 
of  divine  favor  and  approbation.  It  has  noth- 
ing to  do  with  his  nature.  Whether  he  was 
a   man,  divinely  inspired,  or  an  angel,  who 


56  "  THE    SON    OF    GOD." 

"  ruled  Lord  of  Heaven,"  before  he  came  to 
earth,  is  not  settled,  in  any  way,  by  this  name  ; 
it  refers  solely  to  his  character.  But  while 
this  conclusion  removes  much  of  the  mystery 
which  hangs  around  his  name,  it  does  not 
lessen  our  love  for  him.  He  is  still  a  son  of 
God,  possessing  the  pure  and  spotless  charac- 
ter which  endears  him  to  the  heavenly  Father. 
We  see  in  him  a  holy  spirit  inspiring  every 
word,  prompting  every  deed,  and  giving  such 
a  coloring  to  his  life  as  to  make  those  who 
saw  him  feel  that  he  came  from  God,  —  yes, 
that  he  was  then  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father. 
He  still  exhibits  what  there  is  divine  in  hu- 
manity ;  and  as  a  guide,  an  example,  and  a 
giver  of  spiritual  life,  he  bestows  on  others  the 
power  to  become,  in  the  same  exalted  sense, 
"  sons  of  God." 

JESUS   THE   SON. 

And  he  is  also  the  son  of  God,  —  not  only 
one  of  the  ideals  of  humanity,  but  the  high- 
est ;  not  only  one  of  the  manifestations  of  the 


"  THE   SON   OF  GOD."  57 

Father,  but  the  truest  and  purest.  All  that 
is  most  excellent  in  manhood,  we  find  in  him  ; 
and  in  him,  also,  we  find  the  fullest  revelation 
of  God  that  has  yet  been  made  through  the 
flesh.  Rightly  is  he  called,  far  above  all  others, 
"  the  soii,^^  from  that  character  which  has 
warmed  some  of  the  coldest  hearts,  awakened 
the  most  dormant  affections,  and  quickened 
the  most  sluggish  consciences.  Well  may 
those  who  think  their  ideal  of  excellence  has 
not  yet  been  reached,  and  who  are  looking 
for  some  anointed  one,  still  to  come,  ask 
calmly,  as  did  the  men  of  old,  "  When  the 
Christ  cometh,  will  he  do  greater  things  than 
these?" 


LECTUEE    V. 

THE    HOLY    SPIRIT. 

TTNITARIANS,  no  less  than  Trinitarians, 
baptize  the  disciple  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Spir- 
it. You  have  seen  that  by  the  Father  we 
mean  the  one  and  only  God,  who  created  all 
things  by  his  mighty  power,  and  watches 
over  all  with  perfect  wisdom,  mercy,  and  love ; 
and  that  by  the  Son  we  mean  just  what  the 
apostle  meant,  "Jesus  of  Nazareth,  a  man 
approved  of  God  among  you  by  miracles  and 
wonders  and  signs,  which  God  did  by  him  in 
the  midst  of  you."  It  remains  that  I  should 
show  you  what  we  mean  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 
If  you  noticed  in  previous  lectures  that  all 
the   arguments   were   based  upon   the    New 


THE   HOLY   SPIRIT.  59 

Testament,  you  are  not  to    infer  from   that 
fact  that  we  sanction  the  too  common   error 
of  regarding  the  Bible  as  the  only  source  of 
religious   knowledge ;    for   while    God    does 
speak   to   us   clearly  through   the    Bible,   he 
speaks  also  through  the  works  of  nature,  and 
through  the   Holy   Spirit  he   sends  into  our 
hearts.     But  because  those   lectures   related 
almost    entirely  to    questions    about    Jesus 
Christ,  we  were  forced  to  confine  ourselves  to 
the   authentic  records  of  what  he  was,  said, 
and  did,  since  neither  nature  nor  reason,  ob- 
servation nor  experience,  can  settle  a  matter 
of  pure  history.     On  this  occasion,  however, 
we  have  to  consider  a  present  influence,  no 
less  than  a  past  fact,  and  must  inquire,  not 
only  what  the  Bible  teaches  about  the  Holy 
Spirit,  but  what  we  know  from  its  own  oper- 
ations in  our  souls. 

THE   HOLY   SPIRIT   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

It  is  claimed  in  the  larger  part  of  Christian 
churches,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  mentioned  in 


60  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT. 

the  Bible  is  a  person  equal  to.  but  distin- 
guished from,  the  heavenly  Father.  But  as 
we  read  the  Bible,  it  nowhere  speaks,  as  the 
church  creeds  do,  of  God  the  Spirit,  but  al- 
ways uses  instead  of  that  expression  a  far 
different  one,  the  Spirit  of  God.  Now  the 
Spirit  of  God  can,  primarily,  mean  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  God  himself,  just  as  the 
spirit  of  man  means  only  the  man  himself. 
When  any  one  says,  "  My  soul  doth  magnify 
the  Lord,"  or,  "  My  heart  crieth  out  for  the 
living  God,"  we  simply  understand  that  the 
speaker  does  this ;  and,  in  the  same  way, 
when  we  are  told  that  the  Spirit  of  God  moved 
upon  the  face  of  the  waters,  we  have  but  an- 
other form  of  saying  that  this  was  the  act  of 
God. 

While,  however,  this  was  the  original  mean- 
ing of  the  term,  there  soon  arose  a  secondary 
use  of  it,  to  denote  some  power  or  energy 
which  God  exerted.  As  Dr.  Eliot  has  clearly 
shown,  "  Whatever  God  himself  does,  he  is 
said  to  do  by  his  Spirit,  or  by  his  word,  or  by 


THE    HOLY   SPIRIT.  61 

his  hand,  or  by  the  breath  of  his  mouth,  all 
of  which  mean  substantially  the  same  thing. 
See,  for  example,  Job  xxvi.  12:  '  He  divideth 
the  sea  with  his  power,  and  by  his  under- 
standing he  smiteth  through  the  proud.  By 
his  Spirit  he  hath  garnished  the  heavens ;  his 
hand  hath  formed  the  crooked  serpent.'  "  No 
one,  it  would  seem,  can  fail  to  see  that  all  the 
terms  here  employed  are  but  different  modes 
of  declaring  the  exercise  of  divine  power. 
So,  when  in  one  of  the  Gospels  we  find  Jesus 
declaring  that  he  cast  out  demons  by  the 
Spirit  of  God^  and  in  another  by  the  finger  of 
God,  we  can  rightly  infer  that  the  different 
words  had  the  same  meaning,  simply  to  de- 
note the  power  of  God.  Our  conclusion, 
therefore,  is  that  when  the  Spirit  is  spoken  of 
as  a  person,  it  means  the  Father  himself,  and 
in  all  other  cases  it  denotes  the  spiritual  in- 
fluence which  the  Father  exerts ;  and  hence, 
in  the  solemn  rite  of  baptism,  the  disciple 
declares  his  purpose  to  live  as  a  child  of  the 
heavenly  Father,  to  be  a  disciple  of  Christ, 


62  THE   HOLY  SPIRIT. 

our  heavenly  brother,  and  to  open  his  heart 
to  the  holy  influence  and  spiritual  blessings 
which  the  Christian  faith  has  brought. 

THE   GIFTS   OF   THE   SPIRIT. 

We  are  confirmed  in  this  view  by  what  the 
Bible  tells  of  spiritual  gifts.  It  recognizes 
inspiration  as  one  of  those  gifts  which  elevated 
Moses,  Isaiah,  Paul,  and  John  above  the 
great  mass  of  mankind,  and  exalted  Jesus  to 
a  far  higher  position  still,  so  that  even  to  this 
day,  after  the  lapse  of  eighteen  centuries,  the 
wisest  and  holiest  acknowledge  him  to  be 
their  Lord  and  Master.  But  this  peculiar 
inspiration  is  never  spoken  of  as  the  only  di- 
vine gift ;  if  it  were,  how  few  indeed  would 
be  partakers  of  the  Spirit!  When  some  of 
the  Corinthians  thought  that  only  remarkable 
powers 'were  given  by  God,  Paul  devoted  a 
portion  of  his  first  letter  to  them  to  the  cor- 
rection of  that  error.  He  said  that  no  ex- 
traordinary gifts  are  needed  to  make  one 
spiritual;   for   the   humblest   child   who    sin- 


THE   HOLY   SPIRIT.  63 

cerely  confesses  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord, 
is  also  acting  under  a  divine  influence.  The 
power  to  give  practical  lessons  in  wisdom,  to 
give  doctrinal  teachings,  to  speak  with  glow- 
ing, inspiring  words,  to  talk  in  different  lan- 
guages, and  to  tell  whether  what  is  uttered 
comes  from  a  true  or  a  false  spirit,  are  all 
alike  divine  gifts  from  the  same  bountiful 
Giver.  Thus  he  taught  the  humblest  mem- 
ber of  his  church  to  feel  that  the  Spirit  of 
God  resides  in  him,  as  truly  as  in  the  in- 
spired prophets  and  apostles. 

But  the  Bible  language  goes  even  farther 
than  this.  It  does  not  regard  moral  and 
religious  qualities  as  the  only  ones  which 
have  a  spiritual  origin,  but  speaks  in  just  the 
same  manner  of  what  we  call  ordinary,  nat- 
ural powers.  If  you  turn  to  the  closing  part 
of  Exodus  XXXV.,  you  will  see  that  the  Spirit 
of  God  is  said  to  teach  all  manner  of  work- 
manship, and  show  a  man  how  to  work  in 
gold  and  in  silver  and  in  brass  and  in  the  cut- 
ting of  stones  and  in  the  carving  of  wood.     It 


64  THE   HOLY   SPIRIT. 

teaches  the  work  of  the  engraver,  of  the  em- 
broiderer, and  of  the  weaver,  "  Even  of  them 
that  do  any  work,  and  of  those  that  devise 
cunning  work."  Passages  like  these  prove 
most  clearly  that  the  Bible  recognizes  no  nat- 
ural gifts  except  those  which  God  confers, 
and  they  enforce  the  conclusion  before  arrived 
at,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  not  a  separate  per- 
son from  the  Father,  but  only  the  spiritual 
influence  which  he  exerts. 

PROMISE   OP   THE   COMFORTER. 

While  there  is  thus  a  divine  influence 
poured  out  upon  the  whole  world,  Jesus 
promised  his  disciples  some  special  spiritual 
help  after  he  should  be  taken  from  their  sight. 
They  should  receive,  he  said,  another  Com- 
forter who  should  abide  with  them,  not  for  a 
few  short  years  as  he  had  done,  but  for  ever. 
It  was  to  be  a  peculiar,  spiritual  influence 
from  the  Father,  which  should  show  them 
the  meaning  of  many  things  which  Jesus  did 
and  which  they  at  the  time  failed  to  under- 


THE   HOLY  SPIRIT.  65 

stand  ;  should  teach  them  the  many  things 
which  he  had  wished  to  impart  but  they  were 
not  able  to  bear ;  should  explain  to  them,  as 
he  said,  the  things  that  were  to  come,  allud- 
ing to  his  own  death  and  resurrection  ;  and, 
in  short,  should  guide  them  into  the  real 
meaning  of  the  religion  he  had  proclaimed. 

THE   PROMISE   FULFILLED. 

And  this  promise  has  been  fulfilled.  Ex- 
plain it  as  we  will,  or  leave  it  without  ex- 
planation, the  fact  yet  remains  that  the  true 
followers  of  Jesus  have  felt  this  spiritual  in- 
fluence of  which  he  spoke,  as  none  others 
have  in  the  history  of  the  world.  They  have 
been  inspired,  comforted,  and  guided  by  it, 
exactly  as  he  promised,  and  felt  that  God  was 
indeed  dwelling  within  them.  This  Spirit 
has  been  their  teacher.  It  has  brought  to 
every  new  generation  a  more  complete  under- 
standing of  the  Christian  faith,  and  shown 
higher  meaning  in  the  gospel  words,  so  that 
we,  to-day,  know  better  what  Christianity  is, 


66  THE   HOLY   SPIRIT. 

and  what  power  it  has  over  human  hearts, 
than  did  those  early  disciples  who  gathered 
round  the  Master.  This  Spirit  has  been  the 
great  Comforter  of  the  human  soul.  It  is 
never  easy  to  tell  how  "joy  comes,  grief 
goes ; "  but  that,  the  more  sincerely  we  live 
as  disciples  of  Jesus,  so  much  the  more  pa- 
tience we  have  in  times  of  trial,  the  more 
strength  to  stand  up  under  our  burdens,  the 
more  inward  peace,  even  in  the  midst  of  out- 
ward misfortunes,  is  a  fact  which  cannot  be 
denied  even  by  those  who  fail  to  explain  it. 
Then,  too,  what  an  inspiration  this  Spirit  has 
been !  How  strong  it  has  made  men  for 
every  sacrifice  that  could  be  demanded,  so 
that  no  journey  has  been  so  long,  no  conflict 
so  severe,  no  danger  so  great,  as  to  keep  them 
from  their  heaven-appointed  work.  And  this 
spiritual  influence,  which  does  so  much  to 
purify  every  believing  heart,  has  made  its 
power  felt  on*  every  side,  so  that  the  world 
has  been  lifted  up,  and  we  dwell  on  a  higher 
plane,  nearer  God  and  heaven,  because  the 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT.  67 

promise  has  been  fulfilled  that  he  would 
send  another  Comforter.  We  rejoice  in  be- 
lieving that  God  is  present  in  all  ages  and 
among  all  people ;  yet  we  cannot  help  ac- 
knowledging that  his  power  is  felt  so  much 
more  in  Christianity,  as  to  make  it  true  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  came  through  Jesus  Christ. 

THE   ESSENTIAL   DOCTRINE. 

Here,  then,  is  our  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  We  are  not  the  children  of  a  far-off 
God,  who,  having  created  and  peopled  this 
earth,  withdrew  to  a  distant  heaven  beyond 
all  thought  or  care  for  what  he  made ;  but  he 
is  still,  as  at  the  beginning,  the  Light  and 
Life  of  the  universe,  and  every  thing  we  see 
is  simply  the  manifestation  of  his  will.  Now 
what  Unitarians  teach  is,  that  the  same  God 
who  is  without  us  is  also  within  us,  and  that 
his  presence  is  no  more  felt  among  the  works 
of  nature  than  in  the  soul  of  man.  He  it  is 
from  whom  good  thoughts  and  holy  desires 
proceed,  since  it  is  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  rest- 


68  THE   HOLY   SPIRIT. 

ing  upon  a  man  which  gives  him  "  the  spirit 
of  wisdom  and  understanding,  the  spirit  of 
counsel  and  might,  the  spirit  of  knowledge 
and  of  the  fear  of  the  Lord."  How  often  when 
we  have  been  filled  with  perple^xing  doubts 
about  the  choice  we  should  make  in  life,  and 
a  thick,  heavy  cloud  has  settled  over  our  path- 
way, hiding  every  thing  from  our  sight,  so  that 
even  our  most  earnest,  anxious  thought  could 
not  answer  our  questions  or  settle  our  doubts, 
has  a  heavenly  light  suddenly  shone  around 
us,  a  perfect  peace  come  into  our  souls,  and 
every  thing  been  made  clear  before  our  eyes ! 
This  we  felt  to  be  the  gift  of  our  Father's 
Spirit.  Then  there  have  been  times  when 
some  great  trial  awaited  us,  to  which  we 
looked  forward  with  gloomy  forebodings  as 
something  we  could  not  possibly  endure,  a  day 
of  sorrow  which  we  could  not  see  and  live. 
And  as  the  day  drew  near,  and  our  anguish 
and  fears  kept  increasing,  and  we  prayed  that 
if  it  was  possible  the  cup  might  pass  from  us, 
yet  all  the  while  asking  to  be  resigned  to  his 


THE    HOLY   SPIRIT.  69 

will,  —  all  at  once  the  pain  was  over,  every 
fear  left  us,  and  we  waited  what  was  to  come 
with  the  fullest  confidence  of  a  loving  child. 
This,  also,  we  knew  came  from  the  Spirit  of 
God.  In  our  highest  joy  and  deepest  grief, 
our  humblest  penitence  and  holiest  aspirations, 
we  recognize  this  spiritual  influence  which  he 
exerts. 

"  He  is  with  us,  now  and  ever, 
When  we  call  upon  his  name, 
Aiding  every  good  endeavor, 
Guiding  every  upward  aim." 

THE   LESSON   OF   THE    HOUR. 

There  is  no  scepticism  so  sad  to  witness,  as 
scepticism  about  the  present  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  take  hold  of  human  hearts,  and 
make  the  man  of  to-day,  in  very  truth,  a  man 
of  God.  It  is  a  great  misfortune  when  one 
cannot  believe  that  holy  men  of  old  spake  as 
they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  when 
he  can  look  at  prophets  or  apostles,  and  not 
feel  sure  that  they  had  a  divine  Helper  who 


70  THE   HOLY   SPIRIT. 

made  their  lives  full  of  strength  for  men  of 
many  generations;  a  great  —  who  can  tell 
how  great  ?  —  misfortmie  to  look  upon  him 
of  Nazareth,  and  see  only  a  fanatic  or  impos- 
tor, instead  of  the  well-beloved  Son  who  gives 
life  to  every  soul  that  comes  to  him.  But  to 
believe  all  this,  and  yet  doubt  God's  actual 
presence  to-day,  is  a  far  sadder  scepticism, 
and  blinds  the  soul  still  more  completely  to 
the  realities  of  earth  and  heaven.  To  believe 
he  was  with  past  generations,  but  is  not  with 
the  present ;  to  believe  that  he  spoke  at  sun- 
dry times  and  in  divers  manners  to  the  fathers, 
but  not  once,  in  any  way,  to  their  children  ; 
to  believe  that  he  talked  through  Moses  and 
Isaiah,  Paul  and  John,  but  has  not  broken  the 
silence  of  the  last  eighteen  hundred  years,  even 
to  speak  through  Luther  or  Calvin,  Wesley 
or  Channing;  to  believe  that  he  once  sent 
angels  to  the  suffering  and  sorrowing  to  min- 
ister unto  them,  but  that  now  there 

**  Come  not  spirits  from  the  realms  of  glory 
To  visit  earth  as  in  the  days  of  old, 
The  times  of  sacred  writ  and  ancient  story,"  — 


THE    HOLY   SPIRIT.  71 

this  is  the  scepticism  which  makes  earth  a 
desert,  man  an  orphan,  and  human  life  a 
hopeless  wandering  away  from  God  and 
heaven. 

i  Such  unbelief  has  no  sanction  in  Christian- 
ity. However  much  fuller  the  measure  of 
divine  Spirit  which  was  granted  to  some  of 
olden  times  than  to  any  of  to-day,  the  promise 
is  still  true  that  a  Holy  Spirit  will  abide  with 
pure  hearts  evermore.  If  any  one  fails  to  re- 
ceive it,  it  will  not  be  because  the  Father  does 
not  offer  the  gift,  but  because  the  child  has 
allowed  the  avenues  of  his  soul  to  be  so  ob- 
structed that  the  blessing  cannot  enter.  Only 
open  your  hearts  to  receive  it,  and  this  rich 
blessing  will  come  to  you  from  above  and 
abide  in  you  throughout  your  unending  life. 


LECTURE    VI. 

"  WHAT  IS  MAN  1 " 

T>  ELIGION  consists  in  love  to  God  and 
man.  It  is  the  tie  which  binds  us  to- 
gether as  members  of  the  great  family  in 
heaven  and  earth,  whereof  God  is  the  Father, 
and  we,  his  children,  are  all  brethren.  It  is 
evident,  therefore,  that  our  religion  will  vary 
with  the  different  ideas  which  we  form  of  God 
and  man ;  since  the  bare  possibility  of  loving 
any  being  depends  upon  his  possessing  some 
lovable  qualities.  Accordingly  I  have,  in  pre- 
vious lectures,  shown  you  the  basis  of  our 
love  for  God,  in  that  he  is  a  kind  and  merci- 
ful Father,  who  eighteen  centuries  ago  sent 
Jesus,  our  heavenly  brother,  to  lead  men 
away  from  their  sins,  and  to-day  sends  his 
Holy  Spirit  into  every  open  heart  to  bring 
us  all  to  holiness  and  heaven. 


"what  is  man?"  73 

On  the  present  occasion,  I  wish  to  show  the 
ground  of  our  love  for  man.  It  is  an  impor- 
tant subject,  because  the  idea  which  you  hon- 
estly entertain  concerning  it  will  influence 
your  whole  course  of  action.  Men  do  not 
spend  their  days  in  washing  the  river  sands, 
when  they  have  not  even  a  hope  of  finding 
some  grains  of  pure  gold  ;  they  do  not  raise 
mills  to  crush  the  mountain  quartz,  unless 
some  vein  of  the  precious  metal,  however 
fine,  is  seen  running  through  the  stone  :  so 
no  one  ever  labored  zealously  for  the  welfare 
of  mankind  if,  in  spite  of  his  creed,  he  did  not 
believe  some  germs  of  virtue  yet  remained  in 
human  nature  ;  and  just  in  so  far  as  any  the- 
ology represents  this  nature  as  unworthy  our 
regard,  it  is  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of 
true  religion. 

MAN,   THE   SON   OF   GOD. 

Our  Unitarian"  faith  agrees  with  the  Apostle 
Paul's,  in  declaring,  that  "  The  Spirit  itself," 
—  God's  Holy  Spirit  which  in  times  of  devout 


74  "  WHAT   IS   MAN?" 

meditation  is  felt  stirring  in  the  heart,  —  this 
"  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit," 
enforces  the  conviction  of  our  own  soul,  "  that 
we  are  the  children  of  God."  The  longings  to 
be  connected  intimately  with  the  Infinite  are 
not  vain  and  selfish  ;  they  do  not  pervade  the 
heart  in  hours  of  worldliness  and  pride ;  they 
are  the  strongest  when  our  souls  are  the  best. 
When  we  have  thought  most  seriously,  and 
prayed  most  earnestly,  and  labored  most  de- 
votedly, then  is  the  conviction  the  most  pow- 
erful within  us  that  we  are  heirs  of  heaven. 
The  Father's  Spirit  adds  its  testimony  then  to 
that  of  our  own  heart,  that  we  are  children  of 
God. 

Yet  many  fear  to  trust  these  spiritual  teach- 
ings. They  never  doubt  their  senses,  the 
lowest  part  of  their  nature  ;  they  believe  the 
conclusions  of  their  reasoning  powers,  the 
next  higher  part  of  their  being  :  but  the  soul, 
the  highest  of  all,  is  regarded  with  mistrust. 
Spiritual  insight  they  will  not  confide  in  for 
guidance ;  spiritual   yearnings  they  will   not 


"  WHAT   IS   MAN  ?  ''  75 

regard  as  signs  of  truth.  The  soul's  own 
conviction  of  its  origin  and  destiny  is  thrust 
one  side,  and  hence  numerous  libels  on  human 
nature  have  crept  into  the  popular  creeds. 

LIBELS   ON   HUMAN   NATURE. 

Look,  for  example,  at  the  different  answers 
given  to  the  question,  "  What  is  man?" 

"  Man,"  says  one,  "  is  a  child  of  Adam.  He 
inherits  the  guilt  of  his  '  Federal  Head,'  who, 
by  taking  the  fruit  of  a  forbidden  tree,  brought 
death  into  the  world  and  all  our  woe.  As 
his  children,  we  are  all  justly  liable  to  eternal 
punishment."  Not  so.  "  Ye  are  my  sons  and 
daughters,"  saith  the  Lord. 

"  Man,"  says  another,  "  is  a  child  of  Satan. 
He  inherits  his  father's  vices,  and,  like  him,  is 
totally  depraved,  —  utterly  opposed  to  good- 
ness, truth,  and  virtue.  His  garment  of  right- 
eousness is  nothing  but  filthy  rags  in  the  sight 
of  Heaven ;  his  prayers  are  an  abomination ; 
his  best  deeds  only  an  offence.  The  anger 
of  God  is  kindled  against  him,  and  were  it 


76  "WHAT   IS   MAN?" 

not  for  divine  forbearance,  he  would  instantly 
be  consumed."  —  "Not  so,"  says  the  Spirit; 
"  ye  are  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  living 
God." 

Yet  still  another  says  :  "  Man  is  a  worm  of 
the  dust,  a  frail  child  of  mortality.  Toil  and 
trouble  he  inherits  from  the  past;  vanity  and 
vexation  of  spirit  he  bequeaths  to  posterity, 
and  passes  through  a  lonely  vale  of  tears  to 
reach  a  resting-place  in  the  grave."  —  "  O  no," 
says  the  spirit  of  man,  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
enforces  the  assertion,  "  we  are  the  children  of 
God ;  and  if  children,  then  heirs ;  heirs  of  God, 
and  joint-heirs  with  Christ." 

There  you  have  the  voice  of  man,  speak- 
ing through  human  creeds,  and  the  voice  of 
God  speaking  through  human  souls.  Which 
will  you  believe  ?  Our  souls  can  have  but 
one  Father ;  with  which  will  you  claim  rela- 
tionship ? 


"what  is  man  ?''  77 

"all  souls  are  mine." 

How  hard  men  find  it  to  believe  the  voice 
which  says,  "  All  souls  are  mine !  "  They  try 
to  limit  the  assertion  in  some  way.  In  a 
spirit  of  exclusiveness,  they  separate  humanity 
into  Christians  and  Infidels,  and  speak  of  the 
former  only  as  children  of  God;  as  though 
the  many  mansions  are  not  large  enough  to 
hold  the  whole  race,  or  the  divine  love  not 
great  enough  to  embrace  all.  But  still  the 
Lord's  voice  in  the  heart  repeats  what  he 
spoke  through  his  Prophet  of  old,  "  Behold, 
all  souls  are  mine."  Yes,  all.  All  worship- 
pers are  his,  whether  in  churches,  groves,  or 
temples  ;  all  men,  oppressors  and  oppressed, 
good  and  bad;  all  women,  whether  Madon- 
nas or  Magdalens ;  all  children,  in  whatever 
land  or  condition  of  life  they  are  born,  and 
whether  baptized  with  water  by  a  Christian 
minister,  or  blessed  simply  by  the  holiest  bap- 
tism of  all,  a  mother's  kisses  and  tears.  Ev- 
ery soul  belongs  to  him,  because  he  creates, 
nurtures,  and  redeems  it. 


78  "WHAT   IS   MAN?" 

I.  god's,  by  creation. 

We  are  children  of  God  by  creation.  Hence, 
in  infancy,  we  are  peculiarly  his.  In  maturer 
years,  we  mar  both  soul  and  body  through 
an  abuse  of  our  free-will ;  and  theologians, 
looking  at  the  wreck  of  beauty,  virtue,  and 
manhood,  say,  "  See  the  depravity  of  human 
nature,"  whereas  they  should  say,  "  See  the 
depraved  character  of  man."  From  this  con- 
founding of  nature  and  character  comes  much 
of  the  misunderstanding  between  the  churches. 
The  two  words  have  in  reality  very  different 
meanings.  The  nature  is  what  God  gave 
us;  the  character  is  what  we  make  for  our- 
selves. Neither  praise  nor  blame  can  we 
deserve  for  the  former.  It  is  simply  our  inher- 
itance from  the  past,  the  portion  of  our  Father's 
goods  that  fell  to  our  lot.  But  for  the  char- 
acter we  are  rightly  held  responsible,  since 
it  is  the  result  of  our  voluntary  lives.  Every 
word,  therefore,  uttered  against  any  one's 
character  is  simply  directed  against  the  man 


"  WHAT   IS   MAN?"  79 

himself;  but  every  thing  said  against  human 
nature  is  a  casting  of  reproach  on  him  who 
created  that  nature,  and  then  pronounced  it 
good. 

Whatever  be  our  answer  to  the  question, 
"  What  is  man  ?  "  we  should  at  least  observe 
the  Golden  Rule,  and  pass  no  judgment  on 
other  people's  children  which  we  would  not 
wish  passed  on  our  own.  Let  all  theories  of 
human  nature  be  tested  by  the  experience  of 
home.  When  God  intrusts  to  your  charge  a 
darling  child,  a  soul  he  has  just  made ;  when 
you  bend  over  its  cradle,  to  watch  the  smile 
which  makes  you  think  it  is  dreaming  of  an- 
gels ;  or  when  it  first  learns  to  clasp  the  hands, 
and  say,  "  Our  Father,"  then  say  whether  it 
is  a  child  of  Adam,  of  Satan,  of  wrath,  or  a 
child  of  God.  Clasp  it  to  your  breast,  mother, 
and  between  your  kisses  repeat  the  articles 
of  your  creed.  If  your  voice  falter,  and  your 
heart  loathe  the  words  of  your  lips,  be  sure 
your  lips  are  not  speaking  the  truth.  The 
judgment  of  the   heart   is  worth  more  than 


80  "WHAT   IS   MAN?" 

that  of  the  head.  Those  words  only  are  true 
which  can  be  repeated  gladly  and  lovingly,  as 
you  hold  a  son  or  daughter,  brother  or  sister, 
in  your  arms;  such  words  as  the  Saviour's, 
"  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me  ;  " 
such  words  as  the  Father's,  "  All  souls  are 
mine  ;  "  such  words  as  the  Holy  Spirit  speaks 
through  the  soul, "  Ye  are  the  children  of  God." 

II.  god's,  by  education. 

We  are  children  of  God  because  nurtured 
by  him.  It  is  true  that  by  the  laws  of  our 
being  we  are  affected  by  the  virtues  and  the 
vices  of  former  generations,  so  that  holy  men 
who  have  lived,  make  our  road  to  holiness 
easier,  and  the  sinful  men  of  the  past  make 
us  far  more  prone  to  yield  to  temptation  ;  and 
in  this  way  there  is  a  connecting  link  between 
Adam's  sin  and  ours.  The  common  theory 
of  the  "  fall,"  however,  presupposes  that 
Adam  and  Eve  were,  by  nature,  different 
beings  from  ourselves,  and  that  every  thing 
has  been  changed   since  their  sin  was  com- 


"WHAT   IS  MAN?"  81 

mitted.     But   the    Bible  gives  no  reLison  for 
believing  the  first  human  beings  to  have  been 
different  from  the  present  race.     Adam   and 
Eve  yielded,  we  are  told,  to  their  first  tempta- 
tion ;  did   any  of  their  descendants  ever  do 
worse  ?     Why  does  it  show  the  depravity  of 
a  fallen  nature  that  you  committed  your  first 
sin,  when  these,  who  are  always  called  per- 
fect, committed    the    only    sin    which    lay  in 
their  power?     No  one  can  show  more  weak- 
ness  in  the   time    of  temptation  than  these 
dwellers  in  Eden,  and  there  is  no  reason  for 
thinking   their    natures    were    different   from 
ours,  or  were   any  more   under  the  fostering 
care  of  God. 

We  start  in  life,  like  our  ancestors,  with 
powers  and  capacities  to  be  trained  and  en- 
larged; and  God  has  so  arranged  the  disci- 
pline of  life,  that  even  our  mistakes  teach  us 
wisdom,  and  our  failures  help  us  rise.  Stum- 
blings and  falls,  while  we  are  learning  to  walk, 
are  but  lessons  of  caution   and  wisdom,  not 

signs  of  a  depraved  physical  nature ;  and  our 

6 


82  "  WHAT   IS   MAN  ?  " 

moral  stumblings,  while  learning  truth  and 
duty,  are  to  be  regarded  in  the  same  light  as 
the  tripping  of  the  feet.  A  child  makes  mis- 
takes while  learning  to  read  and  spell  every 
word  in  the  Bible ;  why  should  you  be  sur- 
prised that  it  makes  some  in  learning  to  prac- 
tise the  duties  spoken  of  in  that  large  book  ? 
He  hesitates  on  first  pronouncing  such  words 
as  "veracity,"  "obedience,"  or  "integrity;" 
why  is  it  strange  that  conscience  hesitates  in 
the  same  way  ?  All  parts  of  our  nature  hes- 
itate, stumble,  or  fall  in  the  course  of  their 
training;  and  yet  all,  as  was  shown  in  the 
last  lecture,  are  subjects  of  God's  watchful 
care,  as  expressed  through  his  constant  laws 
and  daily  bounties. 

III.   god's,  by  redemption. 

We  are  God's  children  because  redeemed 
by  him  from  our  sins.  As  this  will  be  pre- 
sented more  fully  in  subsequent  lectures,  I 
shall  only  state  here  what  I  hope  to  prove 
there.     While  denying  the  total  depravity  of 


"  WHAT   IS   MAN  ?  "  83 

human  nature,  we  assert  the  actual  depravity 
of  man's  character,  and  therefore  his  need  of 
redemption.  Salvation,  we  believe,  consists 
in  restoring  the  soul  to  virtue,  healing  the 
spiritual  infirmities.  As  a  skilful  physician 
saves  our  bodies  by  removing  the  disease,  so 
the  Physician  of  Souls  saves  us  by  removing 
vice  and  all  evil  habits.  It  is  not  salvation 
from  either  present  or  future  suffering  that 
we  seek  ;  for  if  the  cup  of  sorrow  may  not 
pass  unless  we  drink  it,  His  will  be  done.  It 
is  not  the  wrath  of  God  which  we  wish  to 
escape ;  we  do  not  believe  he  ever  has  such 
a  feeling  towards  his  children.  We  desire 
salvation  from  our  sins;  from  the  gross  appe- 
tites which  enslave  us ;  from  the  chains  of 
evil  habits ;  from  the  power  of  sinful  passions ; 
from  weaknesses  and  wanderings,  spiritual 
blindness  and  coldness  of  heart:  from  all 
these  we  pray  to  be  redeemed,  and  from  all 
these  God  will  redeem  us  in  his  own  time 
and  way.  His  omnipotence  is  pledged  to  our 
support.     We  shall  surely  succeed  in  rooting 


84  "  WHAT   IS   MAN  ?  " 

out  evil,  because  he  is  with  us.  And  because 
we  believe  that  every  prodigal  will  at  last 
return,  and  seek  and  obtain  forgiveness,  we 
say  that  by  redemption,  no  less  than  by  crea- 
tion, all  souls  are  God's. 

FILIAL   OBLIGATIONS. 

Not  in  pride  do  we  assert  this  relationship, 
and  claim  our  "  Birthright,"  but  in  humble 
thanksgiving.  How  mean  and  trivial  the  past 
life  seems,  when  our  high  nature  and  destiny 
are  thought  of.  All  this  grovelling  in  the  dust, 
this  wallowing  in  the  mire  of  sensuality,  all 
the  meanness  and  folly  of  life,  —  how  unwor- 
thy of  one  who  has  a  heavenly  origin,  and 
is  called  to  a  heavenly  home.  It  might  do 
for  a  nature  hopelessly  fallen,  or  for  a  child 
of  mortality,  an  heir  of  the  grave;  but  how 
far  beneath  those  to  whom  the  Spirit  has  said, 
"  Ye  are  the  children  of  God." 

*'  I  therefore  .  .  .  beseech  you  that  ye  walk 
worthy  of  the  vocation  wherewith  ye  are 
called." 


LECTURE   VII. 

THE  UNQUENCHABLE  FIRE. 

npHE  Gehenna,  or  hell,  of  the  early  Jews 
means  literally  the  "  Valley  of  Hinnom." 
It  was  once  used  by  the  worshippers  of  Mo- 
loch as  a  place  for  burning  infants  to  appease 
their  god ;  and  after  the  suppression  of  this 
idolatry  it  received  the  refuse  of  the  city,  which 
would  burn  until  every  thing  combustible  about 
it  had  been  consumed.  Because  the  fires  were 
kept  up  constantly,  by  being  fed  with  new 
materials  every  day,  the  valley  became  in  later 
ages  a  symbol  of  the  punishment  of  the  wick- 
ed, as  being  a  place  where  the  worm  dieth  not 
and  the  fire  is  not  quenched,  and  the  smoke 
ascends  for  ever  and  ever.  Material  flames 
cannot,  indeed,  burn  up  a  spiritual  body,  but 
they  can  help  us  understand  the  sharp,  terrible 
punishment  which  follows  the  commission  of 


86  THE   UNQUENCHABLE   FIRE. 

sin,  —  a  punishment  so  severe  that  it  has  for 
centuries  been  called  an  "  everlasting  burn- 
ing." 

ETERNAL   PUNISHMENT   UNSCRIPTURAL. 

Yet,  while  using  this  popular  language,  we 
must  remember  that  the  Bible  nowhere  teaches 
that  the  punishment  of  the  wicked  never 
comes  to  an  end.  It  calls  the  fire  "  unquench- 
able," which  means  that  it  will  not  go  out 
until  it  has  consumed  all  the  combustible 
materials  in  its  reach.  John  the  Baptist,  who 
used  the  word,  was  referring  to  the  flames 
which  burned  up  the  chaff  at  the  harvest  sea- 
son,—  flames  which  were  not  eternal,  for  they 
lasted  only  a  few  hours,  but  were  unquench- 
able in  the  sense  of  not  dying  out  until  the 
chaff  was  completely  burned  up.  So  Josephus 
called  the  altar-fires  of  the  Jews  "  always  un- 
quenchable," although  at  the  time  he  wrote 
altar  and  temple  had  both  been  destroyed. 

But  Jesus  calls  the  fire  "  everlasting !  "  So 
the  Bible   calls  the  hills  everlasting,  though 


THE   UNQUENCHABLE   FIRE.  87 

they  will  be  worn  away  and  will  come  to  an 
end.  The  Levitical  priesthood  was  called 
everlasting,  but  it  did  not  continue  more  than 
1500  years.  The  temple  had  "  everlasting 
doors,"  but  they  were  destroyed  six  centuries 
before  Christ,  having  been  in  existence  about 
400  years.  Therefore  you  cannot  infer  the 
never-ending  misery  of  sinners  from  the  words 
"  everlasting  fire,"  when  the  same  Bible  ap- 
plies the  term  everlasting  to  objects  which 
survived  the  lapse  of  only  a  few  centuries. 
Long  duration  is  denoted  by  the  word,  but 
not  always  or  necessarily  what  we  mean  by 
the  phrase  "  never-ending." 

Yet  in  the  gospel  use  of  words,  eternal  or 
everlasting  has  more  reference  to  the  quality 
of  joy  and  sorrow  than  to  mere  length  of  time. 
The  "  eternal  life  "  which  comes  from  know- 
ing God  and  Christ  is  not  the  immortal  exist- 
ence which  everybody  has,  but  the  spiritual 
life,  joy,  and  blessedness  which  are  given  to 
the  pure  and  holy.  So  we  enter  into  eternal 
life  now,  by  sharing  in  the  gospel  privileges 


88  THE   UNQUENCHABLE   FIRE. 

and  blessings.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the 
judgment  scene  recorded  by  Matthew,  the 
"  everlasting "  character  of  the  punishment 
refers  more  to  its  quality  than  its  duration ; 
and  it  means,  in  popular  language,  spiritual 
misery,  privation,  and  the  failure  to  gain 
Christian  blessedness. 

But  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascends  "  for 
ever  and  ever  I "  Turn  to  your  Bible  again 
to  see  how  long  that  meant  to  a  Jew.  The 
Hebrews  were  told  that  they  might  keep  the 
heathen  as  their  bondmen  for  ever ;  but  for 
much  of  the  past  1800  years  they  have  been 
slaves  themselves,  instead  of  the  owners  of 
slaves.  Again,  the  land  of  Canaan  was  prom- 
ised to  them  for  an  "  everlasting  possession  " 
which  they  should  hold  "  for  ever  and  ever." 
No  language  about  the  duration  of  punish- 
ment is  stronger  than  this ;  and  yet  this  "  ever- 
lasting," this  "  for  ever  and  ever,"  amounted  to 
less  than  1500  years !  Now  since  Jesus  and 
his  apostles  must  have  used  common  words 
in  the  common  way,  you  cannot  infer  from 


THE   UNQUENCHABLE   FIRE.  89 

these  terms  in  the  New  Testament  that  pun- 
ishment never  comes  to  an  end. 

ETERNAL  PUNISHJIENT   UNREASONABLE. 

If  the  doctrine  of  unending  misery  cannot 
be  supported  by  scriptural  phrases,  it  cannot 
be  proved  at  all.  Reason  and  conscience  al- 
ways reject  it ;  partly  because  the  excessive ' 
pain  is  opposed  to  God's  goodness,  and  partly 
because  it  impeaches  his  wisdom  to  say,  that 
all  his  discipline  fails  in  the  end  to  bring 
about  a  reformation.  You  call  it  a  heavy  cen- 
sure on  some  of  our  prison  systems,  that  they 
send  a  criminal  out  no  better  than  he  came 
in;  and  what  will  you  say  to  the  common 
theory  of  "  hell  fire,"  which  declares  that  no 
one  is  ever  made  better  by  it,  or  •  ever  comes 
out  of  it  a  law-loving,  law-abiding  subject  of 
the  heavenly  King?  It  represents  future 
pain  as  inflicted  without  doing  any  good,  or 
even  being  designed  to  do  it,  and  therefore  it 
is  opposed  to  both  reason  and  conscience. 


90  THE   UNQUENCHABLE   FIRE. 

THIS   FIRE   A   REALITY. 

Yet  no  figure  of  speech  ever  expressed  a 
greater  truth  than  these  which  represent  the 
terrible  punishments  of  sin  as  everlasting 
flames.  They  teach  the  solemn  warning  that 
all  evil  in  the  soul  will  be  consumed  by  fiery 
trials  and  afflictions.  The  flames  once  kin- 
dled in  the  breast  by  the  varied  discipline  of 
life  will  not  expire  till  all  the  dross  has  been 
consumed,  and  nothing  but  the  pure  gold  of 
truth  and  holiness  remains.  For  a  man  can- 
not escape  the  judgments  of  Heaven ;  he  can- 
not drown  the  fires  of  remorse,  or  escape  his 
terrible  heart-burnings,  until  he  throws  away, 
utterly  and  for  ever,  the  sins  which  add  fuel  to 
the  flames,  and  becomes  in  character,  as  he  is 
by  creation,  a  child  of  God.  So  long  as  he 
persists  in  guilty  thoughts  and  deeds,  he  is  in 
danger  of  suffering  the  sure  misery  which 
awaits  all  sin ;  or,  as  Jesus  said,  "  he  is  in  dan- 
ger of  hell  fire." 


THE   UNQUENCHABLE   FIRE.  91 

FIRES,   PRESENT   AND   FUTURE. 

In  denying  that  punishment  is  unending, 
we  by  no  means  deny  that  it  reaches  into  the 
future  life.  How  long  it  may  continue  in 
that  spirit  world,  if  we  pass  impenitent  from 
this,  no  one  can  estimate ;  all  that  we  know  is 
that  it  will  be  long  enough  and  severe  enough 
to  produce  the  reformation  of  the  soul.  If 
hundreds  of  years  are  required  for  this ;  if  the 
soul  must  be  agitated  by  remorse  till  long  after 
the  earth  has  ceased  to  exist,  before  it  will  ac- 
knowledge the  Father's  sovereign  will,  both 
mercy  and  justice  would  unite  to  impose  that 
length  of  discipline.  For  the  mercy  of  God, 
no  less  than  his  justice,  leads  him  to  punish 
sin  in  this  world  and  the  next,  for  days  and 
for  years,  until  the  sin  has  been  destroyed 
and  the  immortal  soul  is  purified  by  its  fiery 
affliction. 

USE  OF  THESE  FIRES. 

What  Jesus  called  the  fires  of  hell  are  kin- 
dled, not  to  destroy  souls  but  to  save  them ; 


92  THE  UNQUENCHABLE  FIRE. 

not  to  consume  the  sinner,  but  to  burn  up  his 
sin.  Whether  in  this  or  the  spirit  life,  our 
Father  aims  to  reform  the  erring  by  either 
winning  or  driving  them  back  from  forbidden 
paths  ;  and  the  most  loving  discipline  ever  in- 
flicted by  a  tender-hearted  mother  on  a  way- 
ward child  falls  far  short  of  the  wisdom,  mercy, 
and  love  with  which  God  inflicts  the  penalties 
of  his  violated  laws. 

And  this  is  the  undertone  of  the  Bible  ut- 
terances respecting  the  penalties  of  sin.  All 
the  miseries  brought  on  the  Prodigal  Son  are 
to  bring  him  to  himself,  that  he  may  arise  and 
go  to  his  father.  All  the  chastenings  of  God 
are  sent,  not  for  his  pleasure,  but  our  profit, 
that  we  may  be  partakers  of  his  holiness  ;  and 
though  his  chastening  is  grievous  at  the  time, 
it  afterwards  yieldeth  the  peaceable  fruits  of 
righteousness.  It  is  good  for  a  man  to  be 
afllicted,  that  he  may  learn  God's  statutes ; 
since  thus  the  affliction,  which  in  comparison 
with  the  whole  of  life  is  but  for  a  moment, 
works  out  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding  and 


THE   UNQUENCHABLE   FIRE.  93 

eternal  weight  of  glory.  It  is  true  that  many 
passages  speak  only  of  the  certainty  and  se- 
verity of  punishment  without  mentioning  its 
use ;  but  the  long  list  of  passages  which  are 
like  the  few  above  quoted,  force  us  to  believe 
that  the  use  of  punishment  is  always  the 
same,  and  that  God's  corrections  are  all  de- 
signed to  correct  his  children  and  make  them 
pure  and  holy.  He  who  sits  as  a  "  refiner  of 
silver,"  places  us  in  the  hottest  furnace  of  af- 
fliction, that  he  may  burn  away  all  impurities 
and  make  us  fit  to  dwell  with  the  holy  angels. 

SALVATION   OF   ALL. 

From  these  uses  of  the  purifying  flames,  it 
follows  that  every  human  being  wiU  finally 
become  holy.  If  it  is,  indeed,  the  object  of 
God's  corrections  to  make  us  correct,  of  his 
chastenings  to  make  us  chaste,  of  his  affliction 
to  drive  us  back  from  evil,  he  will  certainly 
accomplish  his  design ;  for  who  can  thwart 
his  plans  ?  Even  the  free-will  of  man  is  sub- 
ject to  surrounding  influences,  and  must  yield 


94  THE   UNQUENCHABLE   FIEE. 

to  some  one  of  the  infinite  forms  and  infinite 
degrees  of  divine  discipline.  Therefore  in  re- 
jecting our  belief  in  the  final  holiness,  i.e.,  sal- 
vation, of  every  human  being,  you  must  make 
one  of  these  charges  against  the  Almighty; 
either,  he  can  save  all,  but  will  not;  or  he 
would  like  to  save  all,  but  cannot;  or  he 
neither  can  nor  will.  For  our  part,  we  believe 
that  God  wills  to  have  all  men  turn  unto  him 
and  live,  and  that  his  will  is  to  be  done. 

These  teachings  of  reason  are  but  repeti- 
tions of  what  Jesus  and  his  apostles  taught 
about  the  future  of  mankind.  Accepting  most 
fully  their  statements  concerning  the  mis- 
ery caused  by  sin,  we  yet  find  everywhere 
glimpses  of  a  future  still  more  remote,  when 
these  fires  shall  cease,  and  hell  itself  be  de- 
stroyed, because  its  work  is  done.  So  we 
look  forward  in  full  assurance  of  faith  to  the 
time  when  he,  who  will  have  all  men  to  be 
saved,  shall  finish  his  work ;  the  time  when  he 
who  has  been  lifted  up  will  draw  all  men,  with- 
out any  exception,  to  him ;  the  time  when  all 


THE    UNQUENCHABLE    FIRE.  95 

who  are  spiritually  dead  in  sin  shall  be  made 
alive  in  Christ ;  the  time  when  the  Son,  hav- 
ing subdued  all  things,  shall  deliver  up  the 
kingdom  to  the  Father  that  God  may  be  all 
in  all ;  the  time  when  all  the  world  shall,  like 
"  all  Israel,"  be  saved  ;  the  time  when  every 
one  shall  know,  what  many  have  thus  far 
failed  to  see,  that  Christianity  has  brought 
good  tidings  of  great  joy  to  all  people. 

OBJECTION  TO  THIS  DOCTRINE. 

But  it  is  said,  "  So  you  believe  a  murderer 
enters  heaven  as  readily  as  the  purest  saint." 
Our  reply  is.  No,  not  while  he  is  a  murderer. 
No  sinful  soul  enters  heaven  so  long  as  it  re- 
mains sinful.  But  there  is  not  the  slightest 
foundation  for  the  doctrine  that  "  after  death 
there  is  no  repentance."  God's  mercy  does 
not  stop  at  the  grave ;  and  wherever,  on  earth 
or  in  the  spirit  world,  a  man  turns  to  the 
Father  in  penitence  and  love,  he  enters  into 
the  blessedness  prepared  for  the  children  of 
God. 


96  THE   UNQUENCHABLE   FIRE. 

LESSON   OF   THE   HOUR. 

Yet  let  no  one  forget  the  certainty  and  se- 
verity of  divine  punishment  in  these  specula- 
tions about  its  length.  There  is  a  fearful 
reality  in  Jesus'  words  about  the  "  danger  of 
hell  fire."  The  Emperor  Nero  besmeared  the 
bodies  of  early  Christians  with  pitch,  and  set 
them  on  fire,  that  they  might  serve  as  living 
torches  to  illumine  the  night.  Even  heathen 
writers  rebuked  him  for  his  inhumanity  ;  but 
was  he  any  more  inhuman  than  those  of  us 
who  besmear  our  souls  with  all  that  can  defile, 
though  we  know  that  a  fire  shall  at  last  be 
kindled  there,  which  no  tears  can  quench  until 
all  the  evil  is  destroyed  ?  Was  he  worse  than 
you,  my  brother,  if  you  have  stored  the  cham- 
bers of  your  imagery  with  unholy  pictures 
whose  poisonous  colors  must  one  day  be 
burned  out,  even  though  it  sear  the  soul  like 
the  burning  of  red-hot  iron  ?  Or  was  he  worse 
than  you,  mother  or  sister,  if  instead  of  the 
solid  gold  of  truth  which  no  fire  can  touch, 


THE    UNQUENCHABLE    FIRE.  97 

you  store  your  treasure-house  with  idle  con- 
ceits and  vain  follies  which  shall  at  last  be 
consumed  by  the  flames  ?  You  remember 
the  tears  which  were  shed  for  a  young  girl, 
over  the  lace  covering  of  whose  beautiful  form 
the  flames  in  an  instant  spread,  and  she  could 
only  writhe  in  pain,  and  moan  and  die.  But 
how  much  more  to  be  pitied  is  one  whose 
soul  has  coverings  equally  light  and  frail, 
which  will  burn  with  greater  fury  and  cause 
a  greater  anguish  in  the  day  when  conscience 
shall  awake  from  its  slumber  and  kindle  the 
fires  of  remorse  for  a  wasted,  misspent  life ! 

OUR   TRIBULATIONS. 

Yet,  with  this  warning,  take  encourage- 
ment, also,  from  the  thought  that  a  wise 
Father  will  appoint  such  trials  for  his  chil- 
dren as  shall  at  last  make  them  perfect 
through  that  which  they  suffer.  Therefore 
the  noblest  souls  are  they  who  have  passed 
through    great    tribulation,    and    now    stand 

chastened  before  God.     And  that  one  word 

7 


98  THE   UNQUENCHABLE   FIRE. 

"tribulation,"  as  Dean  Trench  has  shown, 
expresses  the  true  uses  of  both  present  and 
future  punishment.  For  the  "  tribulum,"  he 
says,  was  the  Roman  flail,  and  "  tribulatio  " 
the  sturdy  blows  which  separated  the  chaff 
from  the  wheat ;  and  hence  our  tribulations 
are  the  means  by  which  God  would  tear  the 
perishable  chaff  of  sin  from  our  immortal 
souls.  In  fhat  one  word  a  whole  volume  of 
truth  is  contained  ;  and  if  from  this  discus- 
sion you  carry  away  only  the  true  meaning 
of  "  tribulation,"  and  learn  to  interpret  your 
own  tribulations  by  that  meaning,  this  even- 
ing will  not  have  been  spent  in  vain. 

"  Por  till  the  bruising  flails  of  God's  corrections 
Have  thrashed  out  of  us  our  vain  affections  ; 
Till  those  corruptions  which  do  misbecome  us, 
Are  by  thy  Holy  Spirit  winnowed  from  us  ; 
Until  from  us  the  straw  of  worldly  treasures, 
Till  all  the  dusty  chaff  of  empty  pleasures, 
Yea,  till  his  flail  upon  us  he  doth  lay 
To  thrash  the  husk  of  this  our  flesh  away, 
And  leave  the  soul  uncovered  ;  nay,  yet  more. 
Till  God  shall  make  our  very  spirit  poor. 
We  shall  not  up  to  highest  wealth  aspire  ; 
But  then  we  shall,  and  that  is  my  desire." 


THE   UNQUENCHABLE   FIRE.  99 

NOTE. 

THE   UNPARDONABLE   SIN. 

In  answer  to  all  arguments,  it  is  claimed  by  some  that, 
as  a  simple  matter  of  Hict,  the  gospel  declares  that  cer- 
tain Pharisees  committed  an  "  unpardonable  sin,"  and 
therefore  can  never  be  saved.  Yet  Jesus  did  not  teach 
that  even  those  Pharisees  will  fail  to  receive  forgiveness 
at  the  last.  To  show  their  great  guilt,  and  the  great 
difficulty  they  would  find  in  being  reconciled  to  God,  he 
said,  "  Whosoever  speaketh  a  word  against  the  Son  of 
man,  it  shall  be  forgiven  him ;  but  whosoever  speaketh 
against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven  him; 
neither  in  this  world,  neither  in  the  world  to  come." 
He  meant  exactly  what  we  do  by  calling  any  one  "  in- 
corrigible," which  is  never  to  be  taken  literally,  as  im- 
plying that  he  cannot  possibly  be  corrected,  but  only 
as  showing  how  faint  hopes  we  have  of  making  him 
better. 

You  are  to  understand  these  words  of  his  as  you  do 
his  other  expressions  of  the  same  kind.  In  John  vi.  27, 
he  says,  "Labor  not  for  the  meat  which  perisheth,  but 
for  that  meat  wliich  endureth  unto  everlasting  life."  He 
meant  that  we  should  labor  for  both,  but  especially  for 
the  latter.  So  in  Luke  xiv.  12,  he  says,  that  when  you 
give  a  dinner  or  supper  party,  you  must  never  ask  your 


100  THE   UNQUENCHABLE   FIRE. 

friends  or  relations,  but  the  poor,  lame,  and  blind.  Al- 
most every  New  England  family  breaks  tbe  letter  of  the 
precept  on  Thanksgiving  day,  and  the  rest  of  the  Chris- 
tian world  break  it  at  Christmas.  But,  evidently,  the 
Master  meant  that  charity  to  the  needy  is  a  higher  vir- 
tue than  simply  the  entertainment  of  friends. 

Now  Jesus  uses  this  same  idiom,  to  say,  that  whoever 
blasphemes  against  the  Holy  Ghost  will  find  ijb  harder  to 
obtain  forgiveness  than  if  he  committed  any  other  sin. 
The  difficulty  does  not  come  from  God's  unwillingness 
to  pardon,  but  from  the  hardened  state  of  heart  which 
will  make  such  a  man  among  the  very  last  to  repent  and 
ask  forgiveness.  Jesus,  therefore,  did  not  teach  that 
there  is  an  unpardonable  sin,  any  more  than  he  taught 
that  you  must  not  labor  for  daily  bread,  and  must  not 
invite  your  friends  to  your  table.  He  simply  meant 
that  there  is  one  sin  far  harder  to  repent  of  than  all  the 
rest. 


LECTURE    VIII. 

THE    DAY    OF    JUDGMENT. 

TESUS  spoke  of  a  day  of  judgment  at  the 

end  of  the  world,  when   he  should  once 

more  come  to  the  earth.     What  did  he  mean  ? 

HIS   O^VN   PREDICTIONS. 

There  are  eleven  passages  in  which  Jesus 
alludes  to  his  second  coming,  and  they  show 
conclusively  that  what  he  refers  to  was  to  take 
place  eighteen  centuries  ago. 

On  sending  out  the  twelve  to  preach,  he 
said,  "  Ye  shall  not  have  gone  over  the  cities 
of  Israel  till  the  Son  of  man  be  come." 
(Matt.  X.)  Palestine  was  a  small  country, 
and  it  would  not  take  them  long  to  visit  all 
its  cities. 

"  The  Sort  of  man  shall  come  in  the  glory 
of  his  Father  with  his  angels,  and  then  shall 


102  THE  DAY  OF  JUDGMENT. 

he  reward  every  man  according  to  his  works. 
Verily  I  say  unto  you,  there  be  some  standing 
here  who  shall  not  taste  of  death  till  they  see 
the  Son  of  man  coming  in  his  kingdom." 
(Matt,  xvi.,  Mark  ix.,  Luke  ix.)  His  coming 
was  to  be  in  the  lifetime  of  some  of  his 
audience. 

"  This  generation  shall  not  pass  away  till 
all  these  things  be  fulfilled."  (Matt,  xxiv., 
Mark  xiii.,  Luke  xxi.)  Therefore  he  cannot 
have  meant  any  thing  which  is  yet  to  take 
place. 

"  Hereafter  shall  ye  see  the  Son  of  man 
sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  power,  and  com- 
ing in  the  clouds  of  heaven."  (Matt,  xxvi., 
Mark  xiv.) 

"  And  when  he  was  demanded  of  the  Phar- 
isees when  the  kingdom  of  God  should  come, 
he  answered  and  said.  The  kingdom  of  God 
cometh  not  with  observation.  Neither  shall 
they  say,  Lo  here  !  or,  Lo  there !  for  behold j 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you."  (Luke 
xvii.) 


THE   DAY   OF   JUDGMENT.  103 

In  speaking  to  Peter  about  John,  Jesus 
said,  "  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what 
is  that  to  thee  ?  "  (John  xxi.)  The  second 
coming  was  therefore  to  take  place  in  the  life- 
time of  John,  and  is  not  to  be  looked  for 
either  in  or  after  our  day. 

Leaving  out  parallel  passages,  I  find  only 
six  occasions  on  which  Jesus  alluded  to  an- 
other "  coming ; "  and  on  four  of  those  he 
fixed  the  time  to  that  generation,  while  on 
the  other  two  he  did  not  fix  any  time  at  all. 
The  inference  is  therefore  irresistible,  that  the 
event  to  which  he  referred  was  to  take  place 
while  some  of  his  hearers  were  still  alive.  If 
you  think  that  second  coming  has  not  yet 
taken  place,  you  must  also  think  that  he  was 
greatly  mistaken  as  to  the  time. 

APOSTOLIC   PREDICTIONS. 

We  are  confirmed  in  the  above  conclusion 
by  the  acknowledged  fact  that  the  apostles 
were  always  looking  for  the  speedy  coming 
of  their   Lord.     Paul  wrote  to  the  Romans, 


104  THE   DAY   OF   JUDGMENT. 

"  It  is  high  time  to  awaken  out  of  sleep.  The 
night  is  far  spent,  the  day  is  at  hand ; "  and 
to  the  Philippians  he  said,  "  The  Lord  is  at 
hand."  James  wrote  to  the  churches,  "  The 
coming  of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh  ; "  while  the 
unknown  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews declared,  "  Yet  a  little  while,  and  he 
that  shall  come  will  come,  and  will  not  tarry." 
The  Book  of  Revelation,  also,  from  which  so 
many  descriptions  of  the  judgment  are  taken, 
says  over  and  over  again,  that  the  events  of 
which  it  speaks  are  about  to  take  place  at  the 
time  its  author  is  writing.  The  very  opening 
of  the  book  declares  that  it  is  showing  "  things 
which  must  shortly  come  to  pass.  .  .  .  Blessed 
is  he  thatreadeth,  for  the  time  is  at  hand;" 
and  the  closing  chapter  is  in  the  same  strain : 
"  Seal  not  the  sayings  of  the  prophecy  of  this 
book,  for  the  time  is  at  hand.  .  .  .  He  who 
testifieth  these  things  saith,  Surely  I  come 
quickly." 


THE   DAY   OF   JUDGMENT.  105 

"JUDGMENT   TO    COME." 

A  correct  translation  of  such  phrases  as 
"judgment  to  come,"  or  "wrath  to  come," 
would  also  show  that  the  speakers  were  not 
referring  to  a  distant  event  which  has  not  yet 
taken  place,  but  to  something  which  they  re- 
garded as  close  at  hand.  The  word  trans- 
lated "  to  come "  is  the  very  same  one  that 
Luke  uses,  to  say  that  the  centurion's  servant 
was  ready  to  die ;  and  it  is  used  by  John, 
when  he  tells  us  that  the  nobleman's  son  was 
at  the  point  of  death.  The  modifying  word 
is  the  same  in  all  those  cases ;  and  Felix, 
therefore,  trembled  in  view  of  a  judgment 
which  was  on  the  point  of  taking  place  ;  and 
the  Pharisees  fled  from  an  "  impending  wrath," 
one  which  was  close  at  hand  !  That  is  the 
precise  meaning  of  the  original,  and  it  justi- 
fies us  in  saying  that  the  idea  of  a  distant 
day,  on  which  the  whole  race  is  to  be  judged, 
is  not  even  alluded  to  in  the  Bible. 


106       THE  DAY  OF  JUDGMENT. 
"END  OF  THE  WORLD." 

But  did  not  Jesus  ^ay  there  would  be  an 
end  of  the  world,  and  his  second  coming 
would  take  place  then  ?  Yes  :  our  English 
Bibles  read  so ;  but  that  expression  does  not 
mean  the  "  destruction  of  the  earth,"  for  Jesus 
declared,  in  almost  the  same  breath,  that  he 
was  referring  to  something  which  should  take 
place  in  the  lifetime  of  his  hearers.  When 
(Matt,  xxiv.)  he  was  asked  the  signs  "  of  the 
end  of  the  world,"  he  gave  them,  and  then 
added,  "  This  generation  shall  not  pass  away 
till  all  these  things  be  fulfilled."  The  diffi- 
culty of  understanding  him  lies  wholly  in  the 
double  meaning  of  the  term  "  world."  In  one 
sense  it  denotes  the  earth,  and  in  another  the 
state  of  things  on  the  earth.  Hence,  a  young 
man  leaves  school,  and  goes  out  into  "  the 
world;"  by  which  he  does  not  mean  that  he 
is  to  live  on  the  earth,  for  he  has  always  lived 
there  since  he  was  born,  but  that  he  is  to  en- 
ter  society  and   take    part   in    social  affairs. 


THE   DAY   OF   JUDGMENT.  107 

Now  the  Greek,  in  which  the  Gospels  were 
written,  avoids  this  equivocal  use  of  language, 
by  having  two  different  words  for  these  two 
different  meanings  ;  one  of  which,  "  kosmos," 
means  the  earth,  while  the  other,  "  aion," 
means  the  state  of  things  on  the  earth  ;  that 
is,  the  age,  to  use  our  simplest  term.  So  in 
explaining  the  parable  of  the  tares,  Jesus 
says  the  field  is  the  kosmos  (that  is,  the  earth) ; 
and  the  harvest  is  the  end,  not  of  the  earth, 
but  of  that  age,  of  that  state  of  things  which 
then  existed  in  the  world.  The  confusion  of 
ideas  is  solely  in  our  imperfect  translation  and 
the  double  meaning  of  the  English  term 
"world;"  for  the  original  Gospels  nowhere 
speak  of  the  destruction  of  the  earth,  but  only 
of  the  end  of  that  age,  or,  as  we  sometimes 
say,  the  end  of  those  times.  What,  then,  did 
Jesus  mean  ? 

THE   FULFILMENT. 

He  meant  that  he  was  coming,  not  visibly, 
in  bodily  form,  but  spiritually,  in  the  power 


108  THE   DAY   OF   JUDGMENT. 

of  his  religion  and  the  power  of  God,  to  judge 
the  Jewish  nation.  That  Jewish  world,  age, 
or  dispensation,  was  to  come  to  an  end ;  and 
the  Christian  world.  Christian  age.  Christian 
dispensation,  was  to  take  its  place.  Christ's 
kingdom  was  to  be  established  on  the  earth, 
after  being  heralded  by  that  day  of  judgment 
with  which  he  threatened  the  impious  and 
cruel  people  who  murdered  the  prophets  of 
God.  Famine,  pestilence,  and  war  should  all 
combine  to  bring  destruction  upon  the  nation, 
to  waste  away  the  people,  destroy  the  armies, 
burn  up  the  cities,  and  throw  down  the  sacred 
temple,  so  that  all  the  tribes  of  the  land  should 
mourn.  Terrible  was  the  judgment  with 
which  Jesus  threatened  them,  but  still  more 
terrible  was  the  reality,  when,  in  the  lifetime 
of  that  very  generation,  the  whole  Jewish 
world  came  to  an  end  as  he  predicted.  Long 
before  the  Roman  armies,  the  ministers  of 
divine  justice,  reached  Judea,  a  hundred  thou- 
sand Galileans  and  Samaritans  were  put  to 
death  ;  and  then  the  devoted  city  of  Jerusalem 


THE   DAY   OF   JUDGMENT.  109 

saw  itself  hemmed  in.  Of  the  horrors  of  that 
siege,  when  so  large  a  part  of  the  nation  was 
cooped  up  in  the  circuit  of  the  city  walls, 
when  they  were  butchered  by  their  own  mad 
zealots,  were  slain  by  the  Roman  javelins, 
were  wasted  away  by  famine  and  disease,  and 
reduced  to  such  dire  extremity  that  a  mother 
was  willing  to  eat  her  own  child,  no  one  can 
adequately  speak.  Josephus,  who  witnessed 
the  scene,  estimates  that  more  than  a  million 
lives  were  lost  in  those  five  years  of  warfare, 
and  says,  "  It  seems  to  me  that  the  misfor- 
tunes of  all  men,  from  the  beginning  of  time, 
sink  in  comparison  with  those  of  the  Jews." 
Truly  the  Son  of  man  did  come  in  the  power 
of  his  Father  and  of  the  holy  angels,  when 
this  great  enemy  to  Christianity  was  over- 
thrown and  blotted  from  the  face  of  the  earth ; 
and  the  Roman  General  himself  is  said  to 
have  declared,  when  he  saw  the  strength  of 
the  captured  city,  "  We  certainly  have  had 
God  for  our  assistant  in  this  war,  and  it  was 
no  other  than  God  who  drove  the  Jews  out 


110  THE   DAT   OF   JUDGMENT. 

of  these  fortifications;  for  what  could  the 
hand  of  men,  or  any  machines,  do  towards 
overthrowing  these  towers  ?  " 

This  was  the  second  coming  of  Christ, 
which  he  foretold  so  vividly  that  its  literal 
fulfilment  must  have  given  his  disciples  a  still 
clearer  proof  of  his  Messiahship.  The  judg- 
ment with  which  he  threatened  the  cities 
wherein  most  of  his  mighty  works  were  done, 
came,  as  he  said  it  would,  in  the  lifetime  of 
that  generation.  The  judgment  which  Paul 
said  was  impending  came  within  five  years 
of  the  time  when  Felix  trembled  in  view  of  it. 
The  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved  did  tarry  till 
the  coming  of  his  Master ;  and  all  the  Gospel 
predictions  upon  the  subject  were  realized  in 
that  spiritual  coming  at  the  end  of  the  Jewish 
age,  between  A.D.  65  and  a.d.  70.  Not  the 
slightest  hint  is  given  of  still  another  coming 
to  be  looked  for  in  or  after  our  day ;  for  all 
that  was  meant  by  the  second  coming  of 
Christ,  the  great  day  of  judgment  and  the 
end  of  the  world,  took  place  eighteen  centuries 
ago. 


THE  DAY  OF  JUDGMENT.       Ill 


WILL  THE  WORLD  END.' 

"  Is  there,  then,  no  end  of  this  material 
world  which  we  inhabit  ?  "  T  do  not  know. 
All  that  I  have  said  about  it  thus  far  is,  that 
Jesus  did  not  hint  at  such  an  event  in  his  re- 
corded teachings.  What  I  do  know,  however, 
is,  that,  so  far  as  you  and  I  are  concerned,  our 
connection  with  the  world  will  come  to  an 
end.  We  may  heap  up  worldly  treasures  by 
violence,  cunning,  and  fraud,  or  engage  in  un- 
holy traffic  for  the  sake  of  its  unholy  gains ; 
but  the  hour  is  coming  when  they  shall  all 
drop  from  the  cold,  lifeless  hands  which  an- 
other shall  fold  for  us  across  our  breast,  after 
the  sins  of  earth  are  all  over,  but  not  the  pun- 
ishment of  those  sins.  We  may  seek  worldly 
pleasures  in  an  unchristian  way ;  may  go  off 
into  forbidden  paths  to  pluck  forbidden  fruit ; 
may  live  as  though  the  bodily  appetites  alone 
were  worth  caring  for,  while  the  soul  is  left  to 
pine  away  and  starve  ;  but  the  hour  is  coming 
when  the  world  shall  fade  from  our  dull,  glazed 


112  THE   DAY  OF   JUDGMENT. 

eyes,  and  with  it  shall  fade  all  "  the  lust  of  the 
flesh,  and  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of 
life,"  which  are  not  of  the  Father,  but  belong 
wholly  to  the  world.  We  can  live  in  our 
vices  and  for  them,  —  indulging  every  vile 
passion  that  asks  to  be  gratified,  heeding  the 
whisper  of  every  vile  thought,  and  finding 
our  momentary  pleasure  (to  be  followed  by 
years  of  woe)  in  scenes  from  which  the  holy 
angels  veil  their  faces  in  shame ;  but  the  hour 
is  coming  when  the  body,  with  all  these  de- 
sires, shall  be  stripped  off,  and  we  shall  stand 
face  to  face  with  the  spiritual  realities  we  now 
neglect  or  despise.  And  how  will  it  be  with 
us  then  ?  Shall  we  find  that  the  faithful  efforts 
of  a  lifetime  have  laid  up  for  us  treasures  in 
heaven,  so  that  we  shall  be  rich  towards  God? 
Shall  we  have  in  our  hearts  a  capacity  for 
pure  and  holy  joy,  so  that  we  can  share  in  the 
delights  of  the  angels  ?  or  shall  we  find  to  our 
dismay,  as  we  draw  near  the  heavenly  host, 
that  "  we  cannot  join  in  the  dance,  for  we 
know  not  the  measure,  —  and  cannot  join  in 


THE   DAY   OF   JUDGMENT.  113 

the  song,  for  we  know  not  the  strain  "  ?  The 
end  of  all  material  things  draws  near  to  your 
soul  and  mine ;  and  soon  we  must  learn 
whether  we  are  fitted  to  enter  at  once  into 
the  mansions  of  the  blessed,  or  must  remain 
in  the  outer  darkness  to  expiate,  through  long 
years  of  suffering,  the  sinful  abuses  of  life. 

OUR   DAY   OF   JUDGMENT. 

"  Is  there,  then,  no  day  of  judgment  ? " 
Yes :  there  is  such  a  day.  The  great  judg- 
ment, which  Jesus  foretold  to  the  men  of  his 
generation,  came  and  passed  as  he  declared ; 
but  our  day  of  judgment  remains,  and  we 
must  give  account  of  ourselves  to  God.  I 
know  that  this  does  not  always  come  speedi- 
ly, as  men  reckon  time.  I  know  you  may 
possibly  be  dishonest,  impure,  profane  to-day, 
and  yet  to-morrow  call  yourself  as  well  as 
ever,  and  say  nothing  can  hurt  you,  and  laugh 
at  all  threats  of  punishment.  I  know  that 
you  can  despise  the  long-suffering  of  God,  not 
knowing  that  he  is  trying  to  win  you  to  re- 

8 


114  THE   DAY   OF   JUDGMENT. 

pentance  before  driving  you  back  from  sinful 
paths  by  his  chastening  rod.  But  I  also  know 
that,  sooner  or  later,  the  full  penalty  of  your 
guilt  must  be  paid.  Even  though  no  one  on 
earth  is  acquainted  with  the  sin,  you  will  find 
that  "  the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard ;  ^' 
and  that  before  the  brief  delirium  of  sinful 
enjoyment  has  passed,  the  bitter  punishment 
will  have  already  begun.  Not  one  law  of  God 
can  be  violated  with  impunity.  We  shall  be 
forced  at  last  to  acknowledge  to  ourselves, 
even  if  we  still  conceal  it  from  the  world,  that 
the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  has  pronounced  sen- 
tence upon  us,  and  has  kindled  in  our  being 
the  unquenchable  fire  which  never  goes  out 
till  its  purifying  work  is  finished.  No  surer  is 
it  that  the  setting  sun  will  rise  again,  than  that 
every  act  of  transgression  and  disobedience 
will  receive  its  just  recompense  of  reward. 
Nay,  this  last  is  the  surer  of  the  two ;  for  the 
time  may  come  when  the  setting  sun  shall  not 
rise  or  be  seen  any  more  in  all  the  universe, 
and  yet  we  must  suffer  the  inevitable  punish- 
ment of  our  iniquities. 


THE   DAY   OF   JUDGMENT.  115 

"  Though  the  mills  of  God  grind  slowly,  yet  they  grind  ex- 
ceeding small ; 
Though  with  patience  he  stands  waiting,  with  exactness 
grinds  he  all." 

Nothing  in  all  nature  or  revelation   is  more 

certain  than  this,  that  for  every  sinning  soul 

there  is  a  day  of  judgment. 

CHRIST   HAS   COME. 

"  But  is  not  Christ  coming  again  to  his  dis- 
ciples ?  "  Ah,  friends  !  have  you  yet  to  learn 
that  Christ  is  already  on  the  earth  with  his 
disciples,  only  our  dull,  mortal  eyes  cannot 
discern  him  ?  Our  eyes  are  holden  that  we 
should  not  know  him.  Yet  a  little  while,  — 
who  can  tell  how  little  ?  —  and  we  shall  see  him 
who  in  his  bodily  form  will  not  come  to  us. 
As  soon  as  we  are  absent  from  the  body,  we 
shall  realize  the  presence  of  the  Lord  ;  and 
then  looking  at  him,  no  longer  obscurely  in 
the  Gospel  pages,  we  shall  see  him  face  to 
face,  and  shall  know  even  as  we  are  already 
known.  Therefore  it  would  be  treachery  to 
my  own  deep  convictions  if  I  should  simply 


116  THE   DAY   OF   JUDGMENT. 

say  to  you,  "  The  Lord  is  coming,"  when  the 
words  which  keep  rising  to  my  lips  are  so 
much  sweeter,  dearer,  and  truer,  "  The  Lord 
has  come."  He  is  very  near  his  disciples. 
He  will  be  with  them  to  their  journey's  end. 
He  is  in  no  far-oif  heaven  where  he  cannot 
watch  his  followers,  to  sympathize  with  their 
defeats  and  rejoice  in  their  triumphs  ;  but  he 
is  near  enough  to  see  his  religion  spreading 
slowly  through  the  world,  and  to  note  who 
are  doing  good  service  for  God  and  humanity. 
He  heard  the  Christmas  carols  whose  echoes 
have  scarcely  died  out  over  the  world,  and  the 
anthems  of  praise  which  have  risen  to  heaven 
this  day.  Wherever  true  hearts  are  toiling 
and  praying  for  the  regeneration  of  mankind, 
his  spirit  is  among  them ;  and  the  work  which 
was  begun  eighteen  hundred  years  ago  by  the 
Man  of  Sorrows  is  watched  over  and  blessed 
to-day  by  the  risen  Lord  of  glory.  I  cannot 
say  to  you,  "  Christ  is  coming,"  but  "  Christ 
has  come ; "  and  when  the  scales  drop  from  our 
eyes  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is. 


LECTUHE    IX. 

SALVATION. 

rr^HE  INew  Testament  continually  asserts 
that  we  are  saved  through  Jesus  Christ. 
We  are  told  it  "  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  wor- 
thy of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came 
into  the  world  to  save  sinners;"  and  an  apostle 
declares,  "  Neither  is  there  salvation  in  any 
other,  for  there  is  none  other  name  under 
heaven  given  among  men  whereby  we  must 
be  saved."  Therefore  I  ask,  to-night,  what  is 
that  salvation,  and  how  it  is  secured  through 
him? 

THK    TWO    MEANINGS. 

At  the  outset,  we  find  in  popular  use  two 
different  meanings  of  the  word  "  salvation." 
One  makes  it  refer  chiefly  to  deliverance  from 
some  threatened  punishment,  and  lays  great 
stress  on  the  fact  that  Jesus  is  to  save  us  from  the 


118  SALVATION. 

wrath  and  the  judgment  to  come.  It  promises 
to  rescue  the  dishonest  man  from  the  just  pen- 
alty of  his  dishonesty,  the  drunkard  from  the 
penalty  of  his  intoxication,  the  impious  man 
from  the  penalty  of  his  impiety,  and  all  the 
worldly,  selfish,  and  unspiritual  from  the  evil 
results  which  threaten  them  under  the  moral 
government  of  God.  Especially  does  it  point 
to  the  ever-burning  fires  of  the  spirit  world, 
and  call  upon  men  to  enter  the  Christian 
Church  to  escape  so  great  a  condemnation. 

But  the  other  meaning  of  salvation,  which 
we  think  far  more  scriptural,  makes  the  word 
refer  to  deliverance  from  sin.  It  declares  that 
as  a  physician  cures  a  sick  man  by  restoring 
him  to  health,  so  Jesus  saves  the  dishonest 
man  by  making  him  honest,  the  drunkard  by 
making  him  temperate,  the  blasphemer  by 
teaching  him  to  hallow  the  holy  name,  and 
all  the  worldly,  selfish,  and  unspiritual  by  turn- 
ing them  away  from  their  transgressions,  and 
leading  them  to  serve  the  Lord,  henceforth, 
with  loving  hearts  and  willing  hands.    Nearly 


SALVATION.  119 

every  theologian,  it  is  true,  preserves  both 
these  meanings  in  his  use  of  the  word,  and  yet 
you  will  find,  in  listening  to  two  different 
preachers,  that  one  talks  chiefly  of  saving  you 
from  the  punishment  of  your  sin,  and  the 
other  of  saving  you  from  the  sin  itself. 

V  WHAT   WE   WANT. 

But  which  of  these  two  salvations  does  the 
penitent  soul  really  crave  ?  Most  certainly  it 
does  not  crave  deliverance  from  punishment. 
The  truly  penitent  child  confesses  his  fault, 
and  willingly  submits  to  the  parent's  disci- 
pline ;  and  the  truly  penitent  man  acknowl- 
edges his  sin,  and  declares  his  readiness  to  pay 
the  just  penalty.  The  natural  utterance  of 
real  contrition  has  always  been  in  the  spirit  of 
the  Jewish  publican,  "  If  I  have  taken  any 
thing  from  any  man  by  false  accusation,  I 
restore  him  fourfold."  Indeed,  so  far  from 
craving  a  deliverance  from  punishment,  the 
repentant  soul  often  can  find  no  rest  until  it 
has  offered  to  bear  whatever  can  be  inflicted 


120  SALVATION. 

upon  it.  A  man  who  had  committed  mm'der 
in  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  changed  his  residence 
to  Iowa,  where  no  one  suspected  his  crime,  was 
yet  filled  with  the  deepest  remorse  for  what  he 
had  done.  The  image  of  his  victim  haunted 
him  continually,  and  he  was  driven  at  last,  by 
the  stings  of  conscience,  to  return  to  the  scenes 
of  his  guilt,  make  himself  known  to  the  offi- 
cers of  justice,  confess  the  murder,  and  submit 
to  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  violated  law. 
And  even  if  you  call  this  an  unusual,  though 
it  is  by  no  means  a  solitary,  case,  it  is  still  true 
in  smaller  crimes  that  sincere  penitence  is  al- 
ways ready  to  accept  whatever  justice  may 
decree.  "  Let  him  do  what  seemeth  good  in 
his  sight,"  is  the  utterance  of  the  contrite  soul; 
and  the  prodigal  after  reaching  home  does 
not  ask  his  father  to  make  up  what  has  been 
wasted  in  riotous  living,  but  humbly  prays, 
"  Make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants." 

The  one  and  only  thing  a  contrite  soul  cares 
for  (and  you  know  it  by  your  own  experi- 
ence if  you  have  learned  what  real  contrition 


SALVATION.  121 

means),  is  not  to  escape  the  punishment,  but 
to  escape  the  sin.  "  Create  in  me  a  clean 
heart,"  is  its  desire,  "  and  renew  a  right  spirit 
within  me."  It  prays  that  the  evil  thought 
may  be  thrust  out  of  the  mind  for  ever;  that 
the  evil  longings  may  be  completely  crushed 
and  no  more  disturb  our  peace  ;  that  the  evil 
habits  may  be  broken,  and  no  more  have  do- 
minion over  us.  The  one  divine  request  which 
has  echoed  down  through  the  ages  is,  "  My 
son,  give  me  thine  heart;"  and  the  one  gen- 
uine petition  which  has  risen  up  from  every 
penitent  child  has  been,  "  Save  me  from  my 
sins,  and  give  me  a  heart  fixed  on  God." 

WHAT   IS   POSSIBLE. 

I  say  that  the  soul  wishes  only  this  salva- 
tion from  sin.  Now  we  must  go  farther,  and 
see  that  no  other  salvation  is  possible ;  for  you 
cannot  by  any  tears,  penitence,  or  reformation 
escape  the  just  punishment  of  your  past  sins. 
Whatever  penalty  has  been  affixed  to  any 
act  of  disobedience  is  no  idle  threat  of  some- 


122  "  SALVATION. 

thing  which  may  or  may  not  be  exacted  when 
the  hour  of  reckoning  comes;  for,  just  as  sure- 
ly as  God  exists,  the  penalty  must  be  paid  to 
the  uttermost  farthing  by  every  one  of  us  who 
commits  the  act.     Has  he  pronounced  judg- 
ment against  an  evil  deed  ?     It  will  be  exe- 
cuted on  you  if  you  commit  the  deed.     Has 
he  threatened  an  evil  thought  with  punish- 
ment?    Then  you  will  be  punished  for  every 
evil  thought  you  cherish.     If  on  leaving  this 
house  you  enter  on  a  night's   debauch,  and 
then,  to-morrow  morning,  repent  of  it  most 
sincerely  and  prayerfully,  that  penitence  will 
not  save  you  from  the  sure  results  which  God 
has  ordained  to  follow  every  such  violation  of 
his   holy  laws.     You  may  be  dishonest,  im- 
pure, intemperate,  and  profane,  and  then  turn 
squarely  round  and   seek  the   Christian  life ; 
but  the  penalty  for  what  you  have  done  must 
still  be  paid.     The  prodigal  is  freely  forgiven 
by  his  father,  and  welcomed  back  to  his  bound- 
less love,  but  the   patrimony  he  has  wasted 
and  the  constitution  he  has  destroyed  are  not 


SALVATION.  123 

restored ;  and  who  can  doubt  that  such  a  one 
feels  to  the  end  of  his  life  the  bitter  results  of 
his  early  misdeeds  ?  Look  fairly  at  your  own 
experience,  friends,  and  answer  in  the  privacy 
of  your  souls,  —  "  After  all  your  repentance 
and  reformation,  are  you  not  this  very  night 
suffering  for  the  evil  you  once  committed  ?  " 

And  why  should  a  man  ask  to  be  saved  from 
the  punishment  connected  with  his  sins?  For 
those  punishments  are  ordained,  either  wisely 
or  unwisely.  If  you  say,  "unwisely,"  you  im- 
peach the  character  of  God  ;  and  if  "  wisely," 
then  they  are  the  best  results  to  follow  your 
acts  of  disobedience,  and  to  ask  to  be  saved 
from  them  would  be  folly  indeed.  Rather 
should  we  bow  before  God  in  childlike  trust 
and  say,  "  Thy  will  is  the  best  will,  may  thy 
will  be  done.  The  cup  which  my  Father 
gives  me  to  cure  me  of  my  sins,  shall  I  not 
drink  it?" 

The  only  salvation  offered  us  is  the  only 
one  desired  by  humble  and  contrite  souls  —  a 
salvation  from  every  sin.     Thanks  be  to  God, 


124  SALVATION. 

that  is  promised  us,  and  is  in  the  reach  of  all. 
From  anger,  hatred,  and  revenge ;  from  ava- 
rice, vanity,  and  lust ;  •  from  guilty  habits 
which  enchain  us  and  guilty  passions  which 
lord  it  over  the  soul ;  from  every  vice  which 
corrupts  our  nature,  every  sin  against  God, 
every  crime  against  humanity,  we  can  be 
saved.  We  can  be  delivered  from  every 
thing  which  estranges  us  from  the  heavenly 
Father,  and  be  reunited  to  him  in  perfect  re- 
conciliation through  penitence  and  love.  And 
so  the  Gospel  tells  us  that  the  Messiah  re- 
ceived his  name  of  Jes.us,  because  he  should 
save  his  people  from  their  sins. 

HOW   JESUS   SAVES. 

But  in  what  sense,  with  our  Unitarian  be- 
lief, can  we  say  that  salvation  comes  through 
him  ?  We  reject  in  every  one  of  its  forms  the 
doctrine  of  vicarious  atonement.  We  do  not 
believe  that  Jesus  suffered  the  punishment  due 
the  human  race ;  for  we  see  that  every  man  is 
punished  for  his  own  sins.    We  do  not  believe 


SALVATION.  125 

that  his  righteousness  is  accepted  as  a  substi- 
tute for  our  non-performance  of  duty ;  for  we 
hold  that  each  one,  individually,  is  called  on 
to  lead  a  righteous  life,  and  will  not  be  saved 
until  he  does.  We  do  not  believe  he  did  any 
thing  to  avert  the  wrath  of  God,  and  persuade 
him  to  be  merciful  to  sinning  men ;  for  we 
know  that  even  when  men  were  most  sinful, 
God  looked  upon  them  with  the  tenderest 
mercy  and  love.  Nor  do  we  believe,  as  some 
of  our  fellow- Christians  imagine  we  do,  that 
we  are  saved  through  the  power  of  Christ's 
example  alone  ;  for,  much  as  we  value  that 
example,  we  do  not  think  of  it  as  the  only  or 
the  chief  means  by  which  he  delivers  us  from 
sin.  But  we  do  believe  that  perfect  reconcilia- 
tion requires  a  change  in  man  only,  not  in 
God ;  and  I  wish  to  show  you  what  Jesus 
has  done  to  bring  about  this  change. 

TRUE    REPENTANCE. 

First,  then,  we  say  that  Jesus  saves  us  from 
sin  by  leading  us  to  true  repentance.     Stand- 


126  SALVATION. 

ing  forth  in  the  midst  of  the  world's  corrup- 
tions, he  made  men  feel,  as  never  before,  the 
sinful  character  of  their  lives.  His  purity- 
shamed  the  world's  impurity,  his  virtues  the 
world's  vices,  his  perfections  the  world's  im- 
perfection. Before  knowing  him,  men  might 
have  gone  on  heedlessly  in  their  old  ways, 
without  once  realizing  how  far  they  had 
swerved  from  rectitude,  and  how  scarred  and 
stained  their  souls  had  become.  Compar- 
ing themselves  simply  with  themselves,  they 
thought  they  had  need  of  nothing;  and  they 
did  not  know  that  they  were  wretched,  mis- 
erable, poor,  and  blind,  until  they  looked  on 
him  who  was  rich  in  all  virtues  and  was 
clothed  with  the  beauty  of  holiness.  The 
coming  of  Jesus  was,  therefore,  a  revelation, 
not  merely  of  the  true  life  which  ought  to 
be  led,  but  of  the  false  life  which  so  many 
were  leading.  The  word  he  spoke  was  a  dis- 
cerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart. 
It  stripped  off  the  disguise  from  human  souls, 
and,  like  the  magic  touch  of  Ithuriel's  spear. 


SALTATION.  127 

revealed  sin  in  all  its  hateful  deformity.  "  If 
I  had  not  come  and  spoken  unto  them,"  said 
Jesus,  "  they  had  not  had  sin  ;  but  now  they 
have  no  cloak  for  their  sin." 

This  feeling  that  we  need  salvation  must 
lie  at  the  basis  of  every  Christian  effort.  In- 
deed, a  sense  of  need  must  lie  at  the  basis  of 
all  action  whatever.  It  is  the  want  of  food 
which  stirs  up  our  sluggish  natures,  arousing 
the  indolent  savage  from  sleep  to  kill  the  bear 
and  deer,  impelling  the  Esquimaux  to  chase 
the  seal  and  walrus,  and  covering  the  lakes 
and  oceans  with  the  sails  of  countless  ships. 
So,  also,  it  is  only  those  who  have  been  made, 
to  feel  a  hunger  and  thirst  for  righteousness, 
thaj  will  buckle  on  the  Christian  armor  and 
force  a  passage  "  by  the  thorn-road  "  to  heav- 
en's gate.  And  this  thirst  for  holiness,  this 
loathing  of  former  sins,  this  longing  for  recon- 
ciliation with  God,  comes  to  us  from  a  knowl- 
edge of  Jesus'  life  and  teachings.  It  is  the 
first  step  in  our  salvation  through  him. 


128  SAiVATION. 

CERTAINTY   OP   SALVATION. 

In  the  second  place,  besides  showing  the 
need  of  salvation,  Jesus  also  teaches  that 
every  earnest  effort  to  reach  it  will  surely  suc- 
ceed. Indeed,  the  former  without  the  latter 
would  be  no  blessing  at  all,  but  only  a  posi- 
tive curse.  Better  let  a  man  perish  in  all  un- 
consciousness, than  rouse  him  to  the  fear  of 
an  evil  which  he  will  not  be  able  to  avoid ; 
since  always,  to  create  a  new  want  which 
cannot  by  any  possibility  be  gratified,  is  far 
worse  than  to  leave  the  soul  untouched. 
Christianity  therefore  would  not  have  been 
truly  a  gospel,  unless,  after  filling  a  man  with 
hatred  of  all  sin,  it  had  shown  him  a  sure  way 
of  escape. 

Now  this  assurance  that  we  can  be  saved 
from  our  sins  is  given  us  through  a  belief  in 
Jesus.  The  very  moment  we  accept  his  words, 
our  doubts  and  fears  all  vanish,  and  deliver- 
ance is  seen  to  be  directly  within  our  reach. 
The  battle   may  be   hard,  but  the  victory  is 


SALVATION.  129 

sure.  The  race  may  be  long,  but  the  crown 
can  be  won.  The  all-loving  Father  is  seen 
ready  to  welcome  us  while  yet  we  are  a  great 
way  off;  and  the  heavenly  hosts  are  heard 
tuning  their  harps  for  the  glad  anthem  which 
rises  when  any  wanderer  turns  his  weary  feet 
toward  home.  Very  weary,  weak,  and  heavy- 
laden  a  man  may  be  in  this  life,  but  if  he  lays 
hold  of  Christianity  with  a  loving  faith  he  will 
find  rest  for  his  soul.  Very  low,  vicious,  and 
degraded  he  may  be,  but  if  he  turn  to  the  Fa- 
ther in  true  penitence,  he  shall  enter  the  blessed 
mansions  and  be  in  nowise  cast  out.  The 
whole  Gospel,  from  beginning  to  end,  is  filled 
with  this  assurance ;  so  that  every  one  wlio 
accepts  its  teachings  knows  beyond  all  doubt 
or  questioning  that  if  he  asks  for  God's  for- 
giveness he  will  receive  it ;  if  he  seeks  Chris- 
tian holiness  he  will  find  it ;  if  he  knocks  at 
heaven's  gate  it  will  open  to  admit  him.  The 
very  essence  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  is,  that 
every  penitent  soul  will  find  pardon,  peace, 

9 


130  SALVATION. 

and  full  salvation  ;  and  therefore  we  say  that 
we  are  saved  through  him. 

MORAL   POWER. 

Thirdly;  besides  showing  the  need  and  cer- 
tainty of  salvation,  Jesus  gives  us  power  to 
become  sons  of  God  in  character  as  we  already 
are  by  creation.  Explain  the  method  as  we 
will,  the  great  fact  yet  remains  that  our  high- 
est spiritual  life  flows  from  the  Father  through 
the  Son  into  human  souls;  and  the  experience 
of  the  world  declares  that  Jesus  did  not  fail 
to  accomplish  the  lofty  purpose  for  which  he 
came  —  that  we  misfht  have  life  and  have  it 
more  abundantly.  It  was  not  weak  bodies 
only  that  he  endowed  with  might,  but  weak 
souls;  so  that  whoever  comes  into  spiritual 
union  with  him,  feels  able  to  do  all  things 
through  the  strength  which  comes  from  Christ, 
It  was  not  human  bodies  only,  that  he  called 
back  from  the  grave ;  but  his  voice  reached  to 
human  souls,  also,  which  were  dead  to  noble 
thoughts  and  aspirations,  and  awoke  them  to 


SALVATION.  131 

a  new  and  holier  life.  The  very  moment  you 
come  into  harmony  with  his  spirit,  you  find 
his  words  to  the  Samaritan  true :  "  The  water 
that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well 
of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life." 
Have  we  not  found  this  true  ?  When  we  read 
the  narrative  of  Jesus'  life  before  our  morning 
or  evening  devotions,  are  we  not  more  in  the 
mood  of  praying  ?  When  temptations  fierce- 
ly assail  us,  do  we  not  find  there  an  increased 
power  of  resisting  them  ?  When  we  are  wait- 
ing the  workings  of  God's  will,  even  as  the 
sick  watch  wearily  for  the  morning,  have  not 
his  words  helped  us  possess  in  patience  our 
souls  ?  And  when  affliction  comes,  and  the 
hand  of  death  is  laid  upon  those  we  love, 
have  not  our  hearts  learned  through  him  the 
secret  of  quiet  resignation  ?  And  so,  have  we 
not  found  that  it  is  life  eternal  to  know  the 
only  true  God  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  he  has 
sent? 

There   is    no   room    here   for   dogmatism ; 
scarcely  any   for   argument.     We    can    only 


132  SALVATION. 

look  at  the  declarations  of  the  Gospel  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  experience  of  humanity  on 
the  other;  the  Gospel  everywhere  declaring 
that  Jesus  was  to  infuse  health  and  strength 
into  human  souls,  and  myriads  of  souls  re- 
sponding that  he  has,  indeed,  raised  them  up 
from  the  weakness  and  death  of  sin,  and 
given  them  power  to  become  sons  of  God. 

SUMMARY  OF   DOCTRINE. 

I  have  shown  you  in  a  former  lecture  that 
we  look  forward  with  full  assurance  of  faith 
to  the  salvation  of  every  human  being.  That 
is  the  only  view  to  our  mind  which  accords 
with  the  teachings  of  Jesus  in  his  Gospel,  or 
the  teachings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  our  souls. 
Yet  it  does  not  follow  from  this,  that  all  or 
any  human  beings  will  escape  the  punishment 
of  their  sins ;  for  you  have  seen  to-night  that 
every  act  of  transgression  and  disobedience 
will  receive  a  just  recompense  of  reward.  Not 
unly  is  it  impossible  to  escape  in  thi^  way  the 
consequences  of  our  guilt,  but  the  truly  pen- 


SALVATION.  138 

itent  soul  never  so  much  as  asks  for  it,  since 
it  knows  that  all  the  divine  chastenings  are 
for  our  profit,  to  make  us  partakers  of  God's 
holiness.  The  Scriptural  meaning  of  salva- 
tion, we  have  learned,  is  deliverance  from  sin, 
and  only  when  we  become  pure  and  holy  shall 
we  be  fully  saved.  Then  when  we  look  far- 
ther and  inquire  how  this  deliverance  is  se- 
cured, the  New  Testament  tells  us  that  our 
great  helper  is  Jesus  Christ.  For,  first,  he 
brings  that  conviction  of  sin,  which  makes  us 
feel  how  much  we  need  Christian  salvation, 
and  how  far  short  we  fall  of  the  perfect  stand- 
ard of  holiness.  Then,  secondly,  when  we  are 
truly  penitent,  he  shows  the  certainty  of  for- 
giveness, and  assures  us,  by  the  full  authority 
of  his  religion,  that  if  we  earnestly  try  to  es- 
cape our  sins,  we  shall  become  free  indeed, 
and  shall  enter  the  joy  of  our  Lord.  And, 
finally,  while  promising  us  this  salvation,  he, 
himself,  through  his  life  and  teachings,  suffer- 
ings and  death,  gives  us  power  to  become  sons 
of  God.     The  divine  wisdom,  strength,  and 


134  SALVATION. 

comfort,  flow  into  us  through  him,  so  that  we, 
like  the  beloved  disciple,  "  have  seen  and  do 
testify  that  the  Father  sent  the  Son  to  be  the 
Saviour  of  the  world." 

And  my  heart's  desire  and  prayer  for  you 
all  is  that  you  may  thus  be  saved. 


LECTUEE   X. 

THE    NEW    BIRTH. 


TTNITARIANS  admit  as  fully  as  Trinita- 
rians  the  truth  of  Jesus'  words,  "  Ex- 


cept a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the 

kingdo] 

meant. 


kingdom  of  God."     Let  us  find  out  what  he 


SEEING   god's   kingdom. 

Jesus  speaks  sometimes  of  seeing  God's 
kingdom,  and  sometimes  of  entering  it, — 
meaning,  in  both  cases,  the  same  thing.  In 
no  instance  does  he  use  it  of  any  future  abode 
in  distinction  from  this  which  we  now  in- 
habit (though  he  teaches  at  other  times  that 
there  is  such  an  abode),  but  always  of  that 
loyal  condition  of  the  soul  which  we  can 
attain  to  in  the  body  and  on  the  earth.  So 
John  Calvin  says,  "  They  are  mistaken  who 


136  THE  NEW   BIRTH. 

suppose  that  the  kingdom  of  God  means 
heaven ;  for  it  rather  means  the  spiritual  life 
which  is  begun  by  faith  in  this  world."  To 
understand  exactly  what  Jesus  meant,  we 
have  only  to  recall  a  similar  use  of  language 
in  the  journals  of  the  day,  when  announcing 
nearly  three  years  ago,  that  the  state  of  Ve- 
netia  had  just  "  entered  the  kingdom  of  Italy." 
Now  what  is  it  that  has  happened  there?  No 
change  has  taken  place  in  the  location  of 
Venice ;  for  its  lands  and  water  remain  just 
where  they  were,  and  the  great  mass  of  the 
population  is  the  same.  But  the  state  which 
once  obeyed  the  Austrian  rule  now  acknowl- 
edges the  Italian ;  substitutes  Italian  laws  for 
Austrian  laws ;  the  proclamations  of  Victor 
Emmanuel  for  those  of  Francis-Joseph ;  the 
decrees  of  the  Italian  parliament  for  those 
which  used  to  come  from  Vienna.  Young 
men  who  once  served  in  the  Austrian  ranks 
now  volunteer  in  the  Italian,  and  the  taxes 
which  once  helped  keep  up  the  Austrian  em- 
pire now  find  their  way  into  the  Italian  treas- 


THE   NEW   BIRTH.  137 

ury.  Little  change  could  at  first  be  seen  in 
the  people,  or  their  occupations ;  but  the 
allegiance  which  before  was  paid  under  com- 
pulsion to  one  country,  has  been  offered 
cheerfully  fo  another,  and  we,  therefore,  say 
that  "  Venice  has  entered  the  kingdom  of 
Italy."  So  a  man  enters  the  kingdom  of  God 
when  he  gives  himself  up  to  the  divine  will; 
renders  cheerful  obedience  to  the  divine  laws ; 
consecrates  himself  to  the  divine  service ; 
and  acknowledges  in  every  way  his  allegiance 
unto  God. 

In  one  sense,  it  is  true  that  the  divine  king- 
dom is  already  established  in  the  world.  All 
things  exist  by  the  mighty  power  of  God,  and 
are  subject  to  his  will.  He  makes  the  winds 
his  messengers,  the  flaming  lightnings  his 
ministers ;  he  rides  upon  the  whirlwind,  and 
directs  the  storm ;  he  lifts  the  mountain 
ranges  of  the  ea#th,  and  holds  the  sea  as  in 
the  hollow  of  his  hand :  and  thus,  snow  and 
hail  and  stormy  winds  fulfil  his  word,  by 
rendering  obedience  to  his  will.     Even  man, 


138  THE   NEW   BIRTH. 

however  rebellious  his  spirit,  cannot  break 
away  from  this  net-work  of  laws,  but  must 
often  observe  how  completely  God  can  make 
the  wrath  of  his  children  to  praise  him,  while 
the  remainder  of  their  wrath  he  restrains.  So 
in  one  sense  it  is  true,  that,  either  willingly  or 
unwillingly,  we  must  all  obey  the  same  un- 
changing laws. 

But  there  is  a  certain  sphere  of  freedom 
allowed  every  soul,  in  which  the  Almighty 
does  not  exercise  his  sovereign  rights.  There 
is  a  limited  freedom  to  choose,  though  not  al- 
ways to  do  what  we  choose ;  to  rebel  against 
God,  or  to  stand  up  boldly  for  his  cause ;  to 
cherish  unholy  purposes,  or  to  become  filled 
with  a  Holy  Spirit.  If  a  man's  house  is  his 
castle  into  which  the  king  may  not  come  un- 
invited, still  more  is  this  free-will  of  man  a 
private  refuge  into  which  the  King  of  kings 
does  not  strive  to  force  his  M^iy  by  his  omni- 
potence ;  and  a  full  entrance,  therefore,  into 
the  kingdom  of  God  requires  that  this  per- 
sonal will  should  come  into  harmony  with  the 


THE   NEW   BIRTH.  139 

divine ;  and  that  while  doing  what  we  choose, 
we  should  choose  to  do  the  right. 

So  each  of  you  enters  the  kingdom  of  God, 
not  when  you  die  and  go  to  a  future  world, 
but  when  you  render  this  voluntary  obedience 
to  him  in  filial  trust  and  love ;  when  you 
place  conscience  before  passion,  duty  before 
inclination,  what  is  right  before  what  is  pleas- 
ant. In  short,  when  you  are  loyal  to  God  in 
body,  mind,  and  soul,  you  will  have  entered 
his  everlasting  kingdom. 

MEANING   OF   NEW   BIRTH. 

What  then  is  meant  by  the  "  new  birth " 
through  w^hich  we  come  into  this  right  rela- 
tion to  God  ?  It  means  just  what  you  do  in 
saying,  "  This  one  or  that  must  be  a  very  dif- 
ferent person  before  I'll  trust  him."  "  He 
must  be  a  new  man  before  he'll  be  a  true 
Christian."  A^*you  turn  over  the  pages  of 
the  Bible,  you  find  many  terms  used  to  ex- 
press the  nature  of  the  change  which  men 
must  undergo  in  becoming  what  they  ought 


140  THE   NEW   BIRTH. 

to  be.  Thus  the  Psalmist  prayed  that  God 
would  "  create  a  clean  heart  and  renew  a 
right  spirit  within  hird."  Paul  desired  men 
to  be  "  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  their  minds," 
and  "  to  put  on  the  new  man  which  is  created 
in  righteousness  and  true  holiness."  The 
Apostle  John  found  the  change  so  great  that 
he  called  it  "  passing  from  death  unto  life." 
And  Jesus  at  times  said  that  men  must  "  be 
converted  and  become  like  little  children," 
and  at  other  times  that  they  "  must  be  born 
again."  Yet  all  these  terms  are  but  varied 
modes  of  declaring  that  a  great,  a  radical, 
change  is  needed  in  a  man's  character,  heart, 
and  life,  before  he  can  truly  say  he  is  a  faith- 
ful subject  of  the  divine  kingdom.  Each  ex- 
pression above  quoted  throws  light  on  all  the 
rest,  and  helps  us  understand  that  Jesus  was 
announcing  no  new  mystery,  but  only  a  most 
momentous  fact. 

Not  a  mystery,  but  a  simple,  intelligible 
fact,  we  are  to  see  in  his  words.  Look  up  at 
the  bright,  but  far-off,  picture  of  what  it  is  to 


THE   NEW   BIRTH.  141 

be  fully  in  God's  kingdom ;  the  perfect  loy- 
alty, trust,  obedience,  love,  that  are  required ; 
the  complete  giving  up  of  yourself  to  him,  so 
that  you  speak  only  those  words,  think  only 
those  thoughts,  and  do  only  those  deeds 
which  are  pleasing  in  his  sight;  look  up  to 
that  bright  ideal,  and  then  look  down  into 
your  own  hearts  —  so  far  below  this  standard 
—  so  imperfect,  so  sinful ;  look,  I  say,  at  this 
broad  gulf  between  what  you  are  and  what 
God  would  have  you  become,  and  you  will 
see  how  great,  how  radical,  a  change  is  re- 
quired—  a  change  so  thorough  that  Jesus 
called  it  being  "  born  again."  No  outward 
alteration  of  the  conduct  is  enough ;  no  put- 
ting on  of  solemn  looks,  going  through  with 
sacred  forms,  reading  from  Holy  Scriptures, 
and  making  loud  professions  of  faith.  No, 
none  of  these  are  enough,  unless  the  change 
goes  way  down  into  the  heart  out  of  which 
are  the  issues  of  life ;  unless  the  change  is 
inward,  as  well  as  outward,  you  have  not 
entered  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 


142  THE   NEW   BIRTH. 

To  return  to  the  illustration  before  used, 
you  may  possibly  find  in  Venice,  to-day,  some 
Austrian  sympathizer  who  pays  large  taxes 
to  Italy  very  promptly;  who  keeps  all  the 
laws  that  have  been  ordained  for  the  king- 
dom ;  who  hires  a  substitute  to  serve  in  the 
national  army,  and  himself  administers  some 
office  so  faithfully  that  no  fault  will  ever  be 
found,  and  yet,  you  say,  "  he's  no  good  Ital- 
ian for  all  that;"  and  some  ragged  beggar 
who,  instead  of  supporting  the  government, 
has  to  be  supported  by  it,  may  be  far  more 
of  a  genuine  Italian  citizen.  And  why  ?  Be- 
cause, in  spite  of  his  outward  life,  the  rich 
nobleman  is  Austrian  at  heart,  hates  the  new 
king  who  rules  over  the  land,  and  longs  to 
have  a  German  army  come  back  and  restore 
the  ancient  order  of  things :  while  the 
wretched  beggar  leaps  for  joy  that  the  city  is 
free,  and  shouts  "Long  live  Italy."  It  is  a 
loyal  heart  that  makes  a  loyal  citizen;  and 
the  nobleman's  heart  must  be  changed ;  must 
be  born  anew ;   must  be  made  all  over  again, 


THE   NEW   BIRTH.  143 

SO  that  he  shall  love  the  new  kingdom,  rejoice 
in  its  joys,  weep  for  its  sorrows,  labor  and 
pray  for  its  welfare.  What  if  he  is  doing  all 
his  outward  duties  to-day  ?  You  still  tell 
him  he  must  be  a  very  different  man,  must  be 
"  born  again,"  before  he  can  be  as  good  an 
Italian  as  the  poor  fellow  who  is  starving  at 
the  palace  gates.  And  it  is  the  heart  which 
makes  the  true  subject  of  the  heavenly  King; 
and  he  who  at  heart  is  worldly,  selfish,  sinful, 
must  be  born  again  in  order  to  enter  the  king- 
dom of  God.  The  two  cases  are  perfectly 
parallel;  and  if  you  understand  the  change 
required  of  that  Austrian  sympathizer  in 
Venice,  you  can  understand  also  what  Jesus 
requires  of  each  one  who  is  not  leading  a 
Christian  life  already. 

But  some  one  may  say,  "  Does  not  the  ex- 
pression '  born  again '  imply,  literally,  a  com- 
plete transformation  ?  "  I  suppose  it  does ; 
but  you  must  interpret  the  Bible  as  you  do 
other  books,  and  remember  that  many  things 
in  it  are  written  in  a  popular  way  to  be  un- 


144  THE  NEW   BIRTH. 

derstood  like  other  popular  words  which  are 
used  in  common  conversation.  Thus  the 
Bible  says  Jerusalem  and  all  Judea  and  all 
the  country  round  about  Jordan  were  baptized 
by  John.  Do  you  believe  that  literally  all  — 
every  one  —  submitted  to  baptism?  Again 
it  says,  all  men  came  to  Jesus.  Do  you  be- 
lieve it,  literally,  that  every  man  in  the  whole 
world  came  to  him  ?  Again  it  says,  no  man 
receives  Christ's  testimony;  and  yet  at  that 
very  moment  he  had  at  least  four  of  his 
twelve  apostles  with  him,  and  was  baptizing 
crowds  of  converts  continually.  How  can 
you  explain  the  contradiction  ?  Only  by  say- 
ing that  the  Bible  uses  language  in  a  popular 
way,  and  must  be  explained  in  that  way. 
The  statement  that  everybody  went  to  Jesus, 
means  neither  more  nor  less  than  your  com- 
mon statement  that  you  "  met  everybody  you 
knew  "  in  the  city  the  last  time  you  went  in, 
or  that  you  "  went  to  the  city  yesterday  and 
didn't  see  anybody."  There  is  a  certain  li- 
cense of  speech  everywhere  claimed  and  al- 


THE   NEW   BIRTH.  145 

lowed  ;  and  as  you  see  from  the  examples  just 
given,  it  must  be  allowed  the  speakers  and 
writers  in  the  Bible.  You  have  no  more 
right  to  apply  rigid  philosophical  tests  to 
every  passage  of  the  Scriptures  than  to  every 
word  spoken  by  a  truthful  man  or  woman ; 
and  so  when  Jesus  tells  of  a  "  new  birth " 
being  needed,  you  cannot  infer  that  every 
thing  must  be  made  over  again,  but  only 
that  the  required  change  is  a  great,  radical 
one,  reaching  way  down  to  the  springs  of  life. 
Jesus  used  forcible  words,  because  they 
were  needed  in  order  to  impress  the  truth. 
Simply  to  say,  "  improve,"  "  be  better,"  "  try 
harder,"  &c.,  were  far  too  feeble  commands ; 
he  bids  you  begin  all  over  again  with  a  new 
heart  and  new  purpose  which  shall  be  to  you 
as  a  new  life.  When  you  can  truly  say  that 
your  great  desire  is  to  love  and  serve  God, 
vou  have  been  born  as^ain. 

10 


146  THE  NEW   BIRTH. 

WHO   MUST   BE   CHANGED. 

The  final  question,  "Who  must  be  changed  ? 
has  already  been  answered  in  substance ;  it  is 
every  one  who  has  not  yet  entered  the  king- 
dom of  God.  Whether  the  words  of  Jesus, 
therefore,  apply  to  this  man  or  that,  to  some 
men  or  all.  is  no  matter  of  abstract  reasoning 
or  dogmatic  assertion,  but  simply  a  question 
of  fact.  And  yet  there  is  one  sense  in  which 
the  words  seem  to  apply  to  the  whole  human 
race.  The  child's  bodily  life  is  developed  be- 
fore the  spiritual ;  its  senses,  appetites,  and 
instincts  control  it  first  in  point  of  time,  and 
slowly  give  over  the  reins  of  government  into 
the  hands  of  reason  and  conscience.  Though 
born  with  a  religious  capacity,  the  child  can- 
not be  said  to  love  and  serve  God,  since  he 
does  not  even  know  the  name.  His  embryon- 
ic virtues  must  be  fully  developed ;  his  germs 
of  goodness  quickened  into  life ;  his  dormant 
soul  awakened  to  the  reality  of  spiritual 
things.     And  when  this  time  of  awakening 


THE  NEW   BIRTH.  147 

comes,  and  he  first  is  conscious  of  his  relig- 
ious obligations,  and  devotes  himself  with  his 
whole  heart  to  a  religious  life,  he  is  truly  born 
again. 

This,  then,  is  our  Unitarian  faith:  that  by 
entering  the  kingdom  of  God,  Jesus  did  not 
mean  "  going  to  any  future  abode,"  but  com- 
ing into  right  relations  with  God  in  perfect 
obedience  and  love ;  that  by  the  "  new  birth," 
he  meant  just  what  you  do  in  saying,  that 
"  such  a  one  must  become  a  new  man  before 
he  will  be  a  Christian;"  and  this  new  birth 
is  required  of  every  one  who  does  not  already 
love  and  serve  God. 

THE   PRACTICAL   LESSON. 

So  far  from  being  a  matter  of  mere  specu- 
lation, the  doctrine,  as  we  preach  it,  has  great 
practical  value.  This  "  new  birth "  is  not 
something  which  you  passively  undergo, 
some  change  wrought  on  you  by  the  mighty 
power  of  God.  He  does  not  stretch  forth  his 
hand  from  the  heavens,  to  snatch  you  up  out 


148  THE   NEW  BIRTH. 

of  your  sins,  and  drag  you  into  his  kingdom 
of  peace  and  love.  He  does  not  change  a 
human  soul  from  sin  to  holiness  by  any  irre- 
sistible grace,  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye,  —  like  the  old  magicians,  whose  wand 
changed  stones  and  brutes  into  thinking,  lov- 
ing men.  No,  friends !  if  you  wait  for  God  to 
make  you  all  over  again,  while  you  do  noth- 
ing for  yourself,  you  will  wait  through  all 
eternity,  and  never  see  salvation  come  from 
him;  but  you  must  work  with  him  in  holy 
fear  and  trembling  earnestness,  and  then  the 
happy  result  is  sure.  He  gives  the  powers, 
but  you  must  use  them  in  accordance  with 
his  will ;  he  gives  the  opportunities,  but  you 
must  improve  them  faithfully  each  day ;  he 
sends  down  his  Holy  Spirit  to  your  side,  but 
you  must  open  wide  the  door  of  your  hearts, 
and  give  it  a  cordial  welcome.  The  divine 
and  the  human  must  work  together,  in,  with, 
and  for  each  other,  and  then  you  enter  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

The    heavenly  Father    has  done  his  part 


THE   NEW   BIRTH.  149 

every  moment  since  you  were  born ;  and  if 
you  have  failed  thus  far  to  enter  his  kingdom, 
the  failure  has  not  been  owing  to  him  but  to 
you.  Have  you  tried  by  all  the  power  you 
had,  to  resist  the  sin  which  so  easily  besets 
you  ?  Have  you  used  all  the  proffered  helps 
to  a  Christian  life,  —  the  reading  of  devout 
books,  meditation  upon  holy  themes,  and 
habits  of  fervent  prayer?  Have  you  taken 
unto  yourself  the  whole  armor  of  God,  that 
you  may  be  able  to  withstand  the  power  of 
evil  when  the  time  of  trial  comes  ?  Then  be- 
gin at  once  to  do  all  this.  Put  forth  every 
power,  use  every  help,  and  live  in  humble 
reliance  upon  God,  —  and  you  shall  become  a 
new  man,  and  enter  his  heavenly  kingdom  to 
dwell  with  him  for  ever. 


LECTURE   XI. 

THE  LIFE  THAT  NOW  IS. 

X  N  both  Exodus  and  Deuteronomy  you  read 
that  the  earth  is  the  Lord's,  but  find  the 
emphasis  placed  on  a  different  word  in  the 
two  passages.  In  the  first  you  read  that  "  The 
earth  is  the  Lord^sP  It  is  neither  yours  nor 
mine  to  gratify  our  sinful  passions  with ; 
neither  Satan's  nor  Mammon's  to  hold  his 
court  in.  It  belongs  to  no  king  or  parliament, 
no  hero  or  saint,  no  church  or  state,  but  solely 
to  our  God.  That  is  what  the  book  of  Exodus 
means. 

In  the  other  place,  however,  you  read  that 
the  earth  is  the  Lord's.  Not  merely  heaven, 
and  the  heaven  of  heavens,  belong  to  him ; 
not  merely  the  far-ofi'  worlds,  which  daily  and 
nightly  roll  over  our  heads  ;  not  merely  the 
paradise  of  the  blest,  where  the  good  of  all 


THE   LIFE   THAT   NOW   IS.  151 

ages  unite  in  serving  and  loving  the  Eternal 
Father,  and  the  fiery  furnace  of  affliction, 
where  the  impure  soul  must  have  all  its  dross 
consumed  before  it  can  be  one  of  the  jewels 
of  the  heavenly  King ;  not  merely  these  be- 
long to  the  Lord,  but  this  earth,  also,  which 
we  tread  beneath  our  feet,  is  his.  That  is 
what  the  book  of  Deuteronomy  implies.  Now 
if  you  will  take  these  two  trains  of  thought 
and  unite  them,  you  will  have  the  Christian 
doctrine  concerning  "  the  life  that  now  is." 

NEAREST  WORLD  AND  NEXT  WORLD. 

Christians  have  often  made  the  sad  mistake 
of  thinking  so  much  of  the  next  world,  to 
which  they  are  going,  as  to  forget  the  nearest 
world,  to  which  they  have  already  come.  God 
is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  seated  on  a  far-off 
throne  whither  we  shall  go  to  see  him  by  and 
by ;  and  heaven  as  a  distant  resting-place 
where  virtue  will  find,  after  death,  the  reward 
which  does  not  await  it  here ;  while  the  un- 
quenchable  fires,  which  form   a   part  of  the 


152  THE  LIFE   THAT   NOW   IS. 

divine  chastenings,  are  imagined  to  be  all  re- 
served for  a  future  time  when  sin  will  receive 
the  punishment  it  now  so  happily  escapes. 
So  long  as  my  soul  is  pent  in  the  body,  I  am 
told  that  I  roam  "absent  from  God; "  and  the 
world  is  thought  to  be  so  far  removed  from 
the  tokens  of  divine  presence,  that  to  live  in 
it  is  to  live  away  from  God  and  heaven. 
There  are  times,  indeed,  when  this  exclusive 
regard  for  the  future  seems  natural  to  human 
souls.  When  our  dearest  earthly  treasures 
have  been  carried  away  to  the  heavenly  king- 
dom, our  hearts  must  go  there  too.  It  be- 
comes at  such  times  our  only  real  home,  the 
only  quiet  resting-place ;  since,  so  far  as  mere 
pleasure  is  concerned,  whatever  life  may  have 
to  offer,  death  will  be  gain.  It  was  in  this 
spirit  Paul  declared  that  he  desired  to  depart 
from  this  world  and  be  with  Christ,  for  he  felt 
that  while  at  home  in  the  body  he  was  absent 
from  his  Lord ;  not  absent  from  God^  —  he 
never  dreamed  of  that  impossibility,  —  but 
absent  from  the  dear  Saviour  and  Friend  he 


THE   LIFE   THAT   NOW   IS.  153 

longed  to  see  —  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Yet 
these  are  but  exceptional  moods  of  the  soul, 
which  still  leave  unimpaired  the  general  rule 
for  human  conduct,  that  we  should  not  forget 
this  nearest  world  which  we  now  inhabit,  in 
any  dreams  of  the  next,  .which  God  has  in 
store  for  us.  Therefore  I  want  to  show  you 
what  Unitarianism  teaches  about  this  nearest 
world  —  the  life  that  now  is. 

I.  god's  presence  here. 

First,  it  tells  us  that  God  is  as  truly  present 
here  as  in  any  world  which  he  has  made ;  as 
truly  present  in  this  state  of  being  as  in  any 
we  shall  ever  enjoy.  It  is  as  Useless  to  talk  of 
going  to  God,  as  it  would  be  hopeless  to  try 
to  escape  him,  whether  we  purpose  to  go  up 
into  the  heavens  or  down  into  the  grave,  or  to 
fly  on  the  wings  of  the  morning  to  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  universe.  Whichever  way 
we  turn  he  is  present ;  and  philosophy  has  no 
diviner  wisdom  than  the  child's,  who  when 
told,  "  I  will  give    you  this  dollar  if  you  '11 


154  THE   LIFE   THAT   NOW   IS. 

show  me  where  God  is,"  instantly  replied, 
"  And  I  '11  give  you  twice  as  much  if  you  '11 
show  me  where  he  is  not." 

Yes,  God  is  with  us  here  to-day.  Under 
these  skies,  by  this  stream,  among  these  hills, 
he  has  his  kingdom.  Our  beautiful  valley  is 
no  prison-house  or  desert  of  exile,  but  a  tem- 
ple for  the  ever-loving  Father.  To  remain 
longer  in  the  world  is  not  to  pass  our  hours 
away  from  him ;  to  be  pent  in  the  body  is 
not  to  be  cut  off  from  his  presence.  We  are 
not  journeying  toward  God,  but  with  him  ; 
and  our  moving  tents,  wherever  pitched  at 
night,  are  in  truth  his  mansions,  and  sur- 
rounded by  the  unseen  host  of  angels.  Then 
it  is  holy  ground  whereon  we  tread  —  hal- 
lowed by  the  Creator's  footsteps ;  and  holy 
dwellings  in  which  we  live  —  sanctified  by 
his  presence.  In  his  sight  we  walk  the  daily 
round  of  duty,  perform  our  labors,  bear  our 
griefs,  and  meet  temptations,  since  "  all  things 
are  opened  unto  him  with  whom  we  have  to 
do."     And  if  God's  presence  could  always  be 


THE  LIFE   THAT   NOW   IS.  lo5 

realized,  where  it  actually  is,  in  every  situa- 
tion of  life,  the  tempter  would  flee  far  away 
from  us,  and  our  hearts  would  keep  free  from 
sin.  Let  me  only  feel,  what  Jesus  has  taught, 
that  the  reign  of  God  has  begun  even  here,  and 
henceforth  sin  will  have  no  attractions  which 
cannot  be  resisted,  and  earth  no  sorrow  which 
cannot  be  cured. 

II.    A   PRESENT    HEAVEN. 

Then,  in  the  second  place,  heaven  also  be- 
gins on  earth.  Christianity  does  not  store  its 
blessings  away  in  some  well-guarded  vaults  of 
the  unseen  world,  and  simply  promise  to  turn 
them  over  to  our  hands  when  we  have  passed 
through  the  gates  of  the  grave.  It  is  true  that 
for  the  full  fruition  of  our  hopes  we  must  wait 
until  the  future,  just  as  children  in  the  first 
drudgery  of  the  alphabet  and  numeration  can- 
not comprehend  the  joy  of  knowledge  which 
will  fill  their  minds  years  hence.  The  pre- 
cious seed  of  holiness  may  be  sown  with  many 
bitter  tears  in  the  morning  of  life,  and  the  full 


156  THE  LIFE   THAT   NOW   IS. 

hour  of  rejoicing  not  be  known  until  in  the 
higher  world  we  lay  our  sheaves  before  the 
Lord  of  the  harvest.  •  Yet,  even  here  and 
now,  we  can  have  a  foretaste  of  that  heaven. 
Christianity  is  no  "century  plant,"  which 
shows  nothing  but  leaves  to  one  generation 
after  another ;  but  it  is  a  tree  of  life,  which 
beareth  all  manner  of  good  fruit  and  yield- 
eth  that  fruit  every  month,  —  yes,  yieldeth 
enough  every  day  for  the  soul's  wants. 

Therefore  it  was  no  general  rule  which  the 
apostle  laid  down  when  he  declared  that,  "  if 
in  this  life  only  we  have  hope  in  Christ,  we 
are  of  all  men  most  miserable."  He  was  but 
referring  to  those  fearful  persecutions  which 
were  experienced  by  him  and  his  comrades 
who  were  called  on  so  literally  to  take  up  the 
cross  and  follow  their  Master  ;  and  there  may 
at  times  be  seasons  of  just  such  trials  now, 
when  a  truly  Christian  life  will  bring  a  man 
to  sorrow,  pain,  and  death.  But  save  in  these 
exceptional  cases,  holiness  will  bring  its  peace 
—  its  inward  joy  —  to-day,  as  truly  as  in  any 


THE   LIFE   THAT   NOW   IS.  157 

coming  time.  Each  good  act  will  receive  the 
approbation  of  God ;  each  pure  thought  will 
help  us  on  towards  complete  harmony  with 
him ;  each  fervent  prayer  will  bring  as  gen- 
uine a  response  as  any  which  we  shall  send 
up  hereafter  when  we  have  joined  the  angelic 
throng.  Whatever  will  make  us  rejoice  in  the 
presence  of  God  then,  will  do  so  now^;  so  that 
even  here  we  can  enter  at  once  into  our  heav- 
en, and  need  go  no  more  out  for  ever. 

III.    UNQUENCHABLE   FIRES   NOW. 

In  the  third  place,  our  Unitarian  faith 
teaches  that  the  unquenchable  fires,  which 
are  to  consume  all  the  evil  in  the  soul,  are 
kindled  here  on  the  earth  as  soon  as  we  com- 
mit a  single  act  of  sin.  They  are  not  all  re- 
served for  a  distant  future  day,  when  those 
who  shall  not  have  "  made  their  peace  with 
God"  will  be  cast  into  the  ever -burning 
flames,  while  others,  who  repent  before  the 
hour  of  death,  will  wholly  escape.  No  such 
uncertainty  exists.     No  more  here  than  here- 


158  THE   LIFE   THAT   NOW  IS. 

after  can  one  of  God's  laws  be  violated  with 
inripunity.  Not  the  slightest  act  of  sin  can  be 
committed  without  incurring  the  sure  misery 
which  he  has  ordained.  Whoso  tampers  with 
evil  thoughts  and  purposes,  whoso  injures  or 
defrauds  his  neighbor,  whoso  wastes  his  pow- 
ers by  doing  the  wrong  or  neglecting  the  right, 
is  condemned  already  by  an  unconditional 
sentence  which  contains  no  "  if."  He  cannot 
enjoy  the  fruits  of  sin  for  a  season,  and  im- 
agine that  if  he  prepares  a  plea  of  repentance 
before  the  judgment  day  he  will  keep  clear  of 
the  flames.  He  is  judged  already ;  and  a  sure 
retribution  has  begun,  which  no  remorse  or 
regrets  can  avert.  Repentance  will  indeed 
secure  forgiveness,  and  forgiveness  will  bring 
a  return  of  the  heavenly  Father's  favor,  but 
the  strict  penalty  of  each  violated  law  must 
be  paid.  It  is,  then,  nothing  less  than  suicide 
to  calculate  the  length  of  life  to  determine 
how  long  the  soul  can  sin  with  safety  and  yet 
escape  its  sentence  of  condemnation.  The 
moment   you  sin   is   your  nroment  of  judg- 


THE  LIFE   THAT   NOW   IS.  159 

ment  ;  and  a  fire  is  immediately  kindled 
which  cannot  be  quenched  by  any  tears,  but 
will  burn  until  all  traces  of  your  guilt  are 
consumed. 

Therefore  you  will  not  in  our  churches  hear 
the  customary  appeals  to  the  uncertainties  of 
life  and  the  possibilities  of  death.  We  never 
give  as  a  reason  for  repenting  to-day,  that 
you  may,  perhaps,  die  to-morrow ;  for  this 
seems  to  imply  the  sad  mistake  that  if  you 
were  certain  of  living  to-morrow,  there  would 
be  no  special  need  of  repenting  at  present! 
Hence,  you  may  have  met  with  people  who 
cherish  the  deliberate  purpose  of  becoming 
Christians  before  they  die,  and  think  that,  if 
they  do,  the  present  sins  will  do  no  harm,  or 
may  even  be  a  clear  gain.  Theologians  may 
not  mean  it,  and  yet  the  practical  effect  of 
their  teachings  sometimes  is,  that  sin  is  re- 
garded as  the  most  desirable  state  for  this  life, 
and  is  to  be  avoided  chiefly  because  it  may 
not  be  repented  of  in  season.  No  error  can 
be  more  fatal  than  that ;  for  sin  is  now  and 
always  the  ruin  of  the  soul. 


160  THE  LIFE  THAT  NOW  IS. 

Jonathan  Edwards  closed  a  sermon  with 
the  words,  "  Brethren,  perhaps  some  of  us  will 
be  in  hell  before  to-morrow  morning."  But 
Unitarianism  strikes  out  the  word  "  perhaps," 
and  says  that  if  you  sin  to-night  you  certain- 
ly will  have  the  fires  of  hell  kindled  in  your 
soul  before  to-morrow  morning.  There  is  no 
"if,"  or  "perhaps,"  or  any  conditional  word, 
about  it.  Misery  follows  sin  by  a  law  which 
is  as  unchanging  as  God  himself.  The  un- 
quenchable fires  are  not  reserved  for  the  spirit 
world,  however  long  they  may  burn  there,  but 
are  kindled  here  on  the  earth,  at  the  moment 
when  the  sin  is  committed. 

IV.    WORTH   OF   THE   BODY. 

Because  God's  reign  has  begun  on  the 
earth,  so  as  to  give  us  a  foretaste  of  the  joys 
of  virtue  and  the  misery  of  vice,  we  find  an 
increased  value  in  the  human  body.  I  ap- 
proach the  topic  reverently,  for  it  is  very  sa- 
cred ;  and  delicately,  for  it  is  connected  with 
our  seasons    of   bereavement :   but    I    must 


THE   LIFE   THAT   NOW   IS.  161 

dwell  upon  it  long  enough  to  show  that  much 
of  our  talk  about  the  bodily  life  is  utterly- 
opposed  to  human  reason  and  divine  revela- 
tion. Christians  too  often  pronounce  the 
body  a  prison-house  of  the  soul  —  which  is 
true  only  in  cases  of  physical  infirmity.  They 
call  the  dead  happy  in  escaping  the  body,  and 
speak  as  though  death  were  better  than  life. 
They  give  the  school  children  verses  to  read, 
beginning,  — 

"  O  fear  not  thou  to  die. 
But  rather  fear  to  live ; " 

which  last  line  is  utterly  unchristian ;  and  as 
for  the  result  of  reading  and  believing  such 
errors,  — 

" '  It  is  good  when  it  happens/  say  the  children, 
*  That  we  die  before  our  time/  " 

And  some  expressions  which  even  ministers 
use  in  the  house  of  mourning,  or  by  the  newly- 
opened  grave,  mean,  if  they  mean  any  thing 
at  all,  that  the  human  body  is  only  a  hin- 
drance to   the  «oul,  and    that    more    thanks 

11 


162  THE  LIFE   THAT  NOW   IS. 

should  be  given  for  a  child's  death  than  its 
birth. 

.  This  whole  idea  we  utterly  reject.  The 
body  is  no  more  the  prison  of  the  soul,  than 
the  hot-house  where  your  summer  produce  is 
started  is  the  prison  of  your  plants.  Your 
physical  frame  is  the  nursery  of  the  new-born 
soul — your  real  self.  It  is  the  home  which 
the  Creator  prepared  for  you  in  his  loving 
caiie ;  it  is  your  defence  against  the  enemies 
that  await  you  in  the  first  days  of  your  spirit- 
ual feebleness ;  it  is  your  first  medium  of 
communication  with  the  external  world,  and 
with  the  other  souls  that  God  has  created. 
Through  its  eyes  you  take  in  the  beauties  of 
Nature ;  through  its  ears  you  are  charmed 
with  the  melody  of  sweet  sounds  ;  with  its 
feet  you  transplant  yourself  to  sunnier  spots 
where  you  can  unfold  your  whole  being  more 
harmoniously;  through  its  lips  you  can 
pour  your  own  comfort,  wisdom,  and  love  into 
other  hearts,  so  that  they  shall  be  "  lifted  up 
and   strengthened."     Will  you  call    such    a 


THE  LIFE   THAT   NOW  IS.  163 

body  a  prison  ?  Why,  it  is  your  loving  nurse 
who  receives  you  from  the  hand  of  the  Creator, 
enfolds  you  within  protecting  arms,  feeds  you, 
clothes  you,  watches  over  you  with  unceasing 
care,  and  takes  the  hard  blows  that  would 
have  destroyed  your  feeble  life.  By  and  by 
the  child  will  leave  the  nurse's  arms  and  look 
out  for  itself;  and  your  soul  will  be  wise 
enough  and  strong  enough  to  quit  the  body, 
and  fly  to  higher  spheres  of  life ;  but,  in  the 
earlier  stages  of  your  being,  this  residence  in 
the  body  must  be  a  cause  of  gratitude  to 
God. 

We  lay  it  down  therefore,  as  a  deduction 
of  reason,  that  the  soul  needs  the  physical  life 
to  prepare  it  for  what  is  to  come  afterwards ; 
and  the  whole  gospel  record  shows  that  this 
was  also  the  belief  of  Jesus.  Not  one  expres- 
sion which  disparages  the  human  body  can 
be  found  in  his  teachings.  Instead  of  saying 
that  death  is  better  than  life,  his  prayer  was 
"  not  that  thou  shouldst  take  them  out  of  the 
world."     When  he  stood  by  the  bedside  of 


164  THE   LIFE   THAT   NOW  IS. 

the  young  and  found  the  spirit  just  leaving 
the  body,  he  called  it  back  to  take  up  the 
physical  life  once  more.  When  even  those 
in  maturer  years  had  gone  down  to  the  gates 
of  the  grave,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  exert  his 
power  and  bid  them  re-enter  their  tenements 
of  flesh.  When  young  and  old  alike  were 
brought  to  him  in  all  their  sickness  and  suf- 
fering, he  did  not  bid  any  of  them  despise 
their  earthly  existence,  but  always  used  his 
gifts  of  healing  to  prolong  their  days.  And 
when  he  sent  forth  his  apostles  to  cure  the  spir- 
itual diseases  of  the  world,  he  enjoined  them 
also  to  restore  the  human  bodies  which  were 
wasting  away.  Oh  friends,  you  cannot  read 
these  gospel  scenes  without  feeling  that  to  the 
Saviour  this  human  body  had  a  far  higher 
value  than  to  those  of  his  followers  to-day 
who  look  on  the  peaceful  face  of  the  departed 
and  say,  "  It  is  better  to  die  than  to  live." 
Save  when  the  body  is  ripe  with  age,  or  has 
become  the  seat  of  disease,  it  is  not  better  to 
die  than  to  live !     Jesus  never  said  so ;  and  if 


THE    LIFE   THAT   NOW  IS.  165 

it  were  true,  the  heavenly  Father  would  never 
have  given  us  a  body. 

Yet  what  shall  we  say  concerning  those 
who  pass  away  in  early  years  before  they 
have  gained  the  lessons  taught  us  through 
and  by  the  body  ?  We  say  that  for  them  it  is 
well ;  yes,  for  them  it  is  best.  Perhaps  they 
are  the  ones  who  do  not  need  the  earthly 
training  to  fit  them  for  a  heavenly  home ; 
perhaps  God  has  some  higher  good  in  store 
for  them,  which  we  cannot  understand  now, 
but  shall  know  hereafter ;  perhaps  it  was  bet- 
ter for  them  to  go  not  through  the  world,  but 
by  some  other  of  the 

"  thousand  ways  the  Father  hath 
To  bring  his  children  home." 

Therefore  if  after  all  our  most  patient  care 
the  loved  ones  are  taken  away,  we  trust  them 
to  God's  still  greater  love  ;  but  while  any  life 
remains,  it  is  as  much  Christian,  as  human 
nature,  to  regard  the  body  as  one  of  heaven's 
great  blessings,  to  be  watched  over  with  con- 
stant care  and  used  with  constant  fidelity. 


166  THE  LIFE  THAT  NOW  IS. 

Unitarianism,  therefore,  teaches  that  the 
laws  of  the  body  are  divine  laws,  and  that  the 
connection  between  the  body  and  the  spirit 
must  be  preserved  by  all  the  means  in  our 
power,  when  it  can  be  done  without  neglect- 
ing the  higher  claims  of  the  soul. 

V.     WORTH  OP  THE  WORLD. 

Closely  connected  with  the  common  error 
of  despising  the  body,  is  the  equally  common 
one  of  despising  the  world.  It  is  spoken  of 
as  something  which  we  are  not  to  love  or 
care  for, —  something,  too,  that  we  must  be 
very  cautious  about  enjoying.  Very  many 
excellent  people  feel  called  on  to  speak  slight- 
ingly of  it,  when  they  mention  it  at  all,  and 
to  talk  of  another  and  better  world  in  a  tone 
of  voice  which  implies  that  this  is  not  the  one 
on  which  the  Creator  looked  when  he  "  saw 
every  thing  he  had  made,  and  behold  it  was 
very  good."  They  pronounce  the  friendship 
of  the  world  to  be  enmity  toward  God,  and 
declare  that  if  any  one  loves  it,  the  love  of  the 
Father  is  not  in  him. 


THE   LIFE   THAT   NOW   IS.  167 

"But  are  not  such  expressions  apostolic?" 
Yes ;  and  they  were  true  when  first  written. 
When  every  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
was  opposed  to  the  new  religion  and  was  try- 
ing to  root  it  out;  when  nearly  every  prison 
contained  Christian  captives  and  every  am- 
uhitheatre  witnessed  Christian  martyrdoms; 
when  a  gross,  licentious  idolatry  was  infused 
into  literature,  amusements,  and  social  inter- 
course, poisoning  the  very  fountains  of  life 
and  joy, —  who  could  love  the  world  and  its 
delights  without  giving  up  his  love  for  God  ? 
But  now  that  Jesus  has  lived,  suffered, 
and  died,  now  that  apostles  have  taught  a 
higher  faith  and  martyrs  borne  their  witness 
to  it,  now  that  the  Church  has  lived  and  la- 
bored for  eighteen  centuries, —  surely  the  world 
has  somewhat  altered.  The  nations  are  not 
now  all  opposed  to  Christianity,  and  there 
are  pure  fountains  of  social  pleasure  whence 
we  draw  life  and  health,  not  poison  and  death, 
for  our  souls.  The  very  object  of  Jesus  was 
to  change  the  world.     Has  he  failed  to  do  it  ? 


168  THE   LIFE   THAT   NOW   IS. 

Then  Christianity  is  a  failure.  Has  he  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  it?  Then  the  apostolic 
words  which  described-  the  world  correctly, 
ages  ago,  cannot  be  applied  to  it  now. 

Therefore,  in  opposition  to  what  is  com- 
monly taught  from  the  pulpit,  our  Unitarian 
faith  teaches  us  to  attach  a  high  value  to  the 
world,  whether  we  mean  by  that  word  this 
material  earth,  or  our  present  life  upon  it.  It 
maintains  that  true  religion  renders  us  still 
more  susceptible  to  the  beauty  and  power  of 
Nature.  He  most  enjoys  the  world  who  sees 
in  it,  not  brute  matter,  but  the  m a nifes taction 
of  an  infinite  mind ;  he  who  learns  the  glory 
of  God  from  the  heavens,  and  hears  a  voice 
concerning  him  from  each  successive  day,  and 
receives  new  knowledge  of  him  from  every 
coming  night;  he  to  whom  the  beauty  of  a 
cloud  is  but  the  type  of  a  higher  beauty,  and 
the  grandeur  of  the  mountain  but  a  type  of 
the  infinite  majesty,  and  the  breaking  waves 
of  ocean  but  a  voice  from  the  Great  Creator 
bearing  a  message  to  the  human  soul.     The 


THE   LIFE   THAT   NOW   IS.  1G9 

richest  beauties  that  strike  the  eye,  and  all 
that  is  lovely,  grand,  or  terrible  in  cloud  and 
storm,  aurora  and  rainbow,  have  new  mean- 
ing, higher  value,  and  greater  enjoyment  for 
him  who  looks  through  them  all  to  the  Infi- 
nite Being  whose  glories  they  ever  portray. 
He  who  finds  nothing  good  in  this  world 
which  he  has  seen,  how  can  he  hope  to  find 
any  in  the  spirit  world  which  he  has  not  seen, 
but  which  is  created  by  the  same  God  ? 

Or  if  by  the  term  "  world  "  we  mean  our 
life  upon  the  earth,  it  is  still  true  that  it  de- 
serves more  honor  than  it  usually  receives 
from  the  pulpit.  If  there  are  any  Christians 
who  have  not  learned  the  full  value  of  the 
world,  they  are  ignorant  of  their  birthright 
privileges.  Let  him  despise  this  present  life 
who  knows  of  nothing  beyond !  Let  him 
who  does  not  see  God's  presence  here,  say, 
"  Vanity  of  vanities !  "  Let  him  who  does  not 
know  that  the  human  body  can  be  a  temple 
of  the  Lord,  talk  of  "  vexation  of  spirit  I  "  Let 
him  call  the  world  a  prison-house,  a  vale  of 


170  THE   LIFE   THAT  NOW  IS. 

darkness  and  of  tears,  who  in  his  hour  of  trou- 
ble does  not  see  the  kingdom  of  heaven  already 
established  on  the  earth !  But  the  Christian 
who  knows  that  God  is  present  with  him  to- 
day, helping  the  right  and  condemning  the 
wrong,  should  recognize  the  real  worth  of  this 
life.  Its  duties  should  seem  to  him  more  im- 
perative—  its  labors  more  important;  nor  till 
he  believes  his  whole  work  is  finished  should 
he  ask  to  be  taken  from  the  world. 

Not  the  heavens  only,  but  the  earth,  is  the 
Lord's  ;  not  the  future  only,  but  the  present ; 
not  the  soul  only,  but  the  body :  that  is  the 
lesson  of  the  day.  Still,  important  as  it  is,  it 
is  only  half  a  truth ;  and  as  I  have  now 
shown  you  the  high  value  which  we  place  on 
"  the  life  that  now  is,"  I  shall  try,  in  my  next 
lecture,  to  show  the  still  higher  value  we 
assign  to  "the  life  that  is  to  come." 


LECTURE    XII. 

THE  LIFE  THAT  IS  TO  COME. 

4  MAN'S  faith  has  little  to  do  with  the 
reasons  he  gives  for  it.  You  may  hold 
his  arguments  up  to  ridicule  and  demolish 
them  every  one,  without  shaking  his  faith  in 
the  slightest  degree.  You  may  question  him 
as  to  the  source  of  his  strength,  as  Delilah  did 
Samson,  and  think  you  have  learned  his  whole 
secret;  but  when  you  have  bound  him  with 
the  seven  green  withes,  or  the  new  ropes,  which 
he  has  said  he  could  not  possibly  break,  and 
look  to  see  him  fall  a  helpless  captive  to  your 
doubts  and  unbelief,  he  rises  up  as  free  and 
strong  as  ever,  and  goes  on  his  way  rejoicing. 
For  the  strength  of  a  man's  faith  does  not 
depend  on  the  strength  of  the  arguments  by 
which  he  tries  to  justify  it  to  your  mind  or 
his  own. 


172  THE   LIFE   THAT   IS   TO    COME. 

Now  this  fact  must  be  remembered  in  con- 
sidering the  life  that  is  to  come.  Here  is  a 
belief  in  immortality,  as  nearly  universal  as 
any  human  belief  can  be.  It  is  prior  to  all 
arguments,  and  depends  so  little  upon  them 
that  it  would  stand  firm  and  unshaken  though 
we  utterly  failed  to  justify  it  by  any  of  the 
reasons  we  assigned.  In  other  words,  as  a 
simple  matter  of  fact,  the  reasons  are  all  after- 
thoughts, like  any  we  might  give  for  loving 
our  mother  or  trusting  our  father,  while  the 
real  faith  in  immortality  comes  long  before  a 
single  proof  is  offered  to  our  minds.  The 
most,  therefore,  that  can  be  looked  for  in  this 
lecture  is  an  enumeration  of  arguments  or  cir- 
cumstances to  strengthen  the  belief  in  a  future 
life,  and  show  that  there  is  no  occasion  for 
doubts  or  fears. 

UNIVERSALITY    OF   BELIEF. 

The  first  argument  is  drawn  from  the  uni- 
versality of  this  belief.  No  age,  nation,  or 
form  of  religion  has  failed  to  catch  glimpses 


THE   LIFE   THAT    IS   TO    COME.  173 

of  this  truth  ;  and  if  here  and  there  a  few  in- 
dividuals are  blind  to  the  tokens  of  a  "  world 
which  is  to  come,"  they  are  no  more  numer- 
ous than  those  who  are  blind  to  the  glories  of 
"  the  world  which  now  is."  In  some,  the  belief 
is  so  vague  that  they  speak  of  the  departed  as 
"  the  shades,"  to  denote  the  unsubstantial  life 
which  awaits  them ;  in  others,  it  is  so  real  that 
a  warrior's  horse  is  buried  with  him  that  he 
may  go  prepared  for  a  new  campaign ;  and  in 
all,  the  definite  conception  of  that  life  varies 
with  the  civilization  of  the  age.  But  beneath 
all  these  changing  forms  you  find  the  one  sen- 
timent of  immortality,  —  as  universal  as  the 
love  which  sets  the  solitary  in  families,  or  the 
social  instincts  which  unite  those  families  into 
States.  It  is,  therefore,  to  be  reckoned  among 
the  primitive  instincts  of  the  human  soul.  It 
is  to  be  relied  on  because  it  comes  from  the 
Creator.  "  We  take  it  on  trust  from  the 
Father." 


174  THE   LIFE   THAT   IS   TO    COME. 

GREAT   FAITH    OF   THE   DYING. 

This  argument  is  strengthened  by  the  fact 
that  faith  in  immortality  increases  as  the  hour 
of  death  draws  near.  The  early  doubts  which 
were  mingled  with  our  trust  all  vanish  as  we 
enter  the  deep  valley.  The  early  fears  which 
were  mingled  with  our  hopes  pass  away  when 
the  decisive  change  must  be  made.  The  soul 
no  longer  shrinks  back  as  from  a  leap  in  the 
dark,  but  is  so  assured  of  spiritual  realities  as 
to  reach  gladly  forth  to  them.  The  moment 
men  are  convinced  that  they  have  done  with 
the  life  which  now  is,  they  are  surer  than  ever 
of  a  life  which  is  to  come,  and  are  so  peace- 
ful, trusting,  smiling,  that  they  seem  the  only 
happy  ones  in  the  whole  household,  —  the 
only  ones  who  can  wipe  tears  from  every  eye. 
As  I  look  back  upon  the  death-bed  scenes  I 
have  witnessed,  and  recall  the  cheerful  faces  of 
the  departing,  I  can  truly  say,  "  These  all  died 
in  faith,"  whatever  fears  and  doubts  assailed 
them  while  living;  and,  unless  you  think  the 


THE   LIFE   THAT   IS   TO    COME.  175 

Creator  mocks  us  in  those  last  hours  on  earth, 
the  immortality  in  which  we  then  believe  more 
firmly  than  before,  must  be  a  reality. 

LOVE   FOR   THE   DEPARTED. 

Our  continued  affection  for  the  departed  is 
an  indication  of  their  continued  existence. 
The  undying  love  in  our  hearts  will  not  let  us 
believe  that  they  have  passed  out  of  being. 
Because  their  memory  remains  so  constantly 
with  us  that  we  cannot  forget  them  even  if 
we  would  ;  because  our  affection,  instead  of 
dying  out,  grows  stronger  and  tenderer  than 
before ;  because  the  longing  to  be  with  them 
is  never  more  intense  than  when  they  have 
passed  from  our  sight,  — we  know  that  they, 
also,  must  still  be  remembering  and  loving  us. 
Else  would  all  these  feelings  of  ours  be  but 
shameful  mockery,  and  God  would  have  filled 
our  hearts  with  hope  only  to  deceive !  If  we 
did  not  miss  those  who  have  gone  from  our 
homes,  we  might  indeed  call  them  dead ;  but 
since  the  Creator  makes  us  love  them  all  the 


176  THE   LIFE   THAT   IS   TO    COME. 

more  as  the  years  roll  by,  he  must  have  in 
store  for  us  a  reunion  in  another  world.  You 
cannot  conceive  of  a  good  God  keeping  alive 
in  our  hearts  an  undying  love  for  the  departed, 
unless  he  means  that  we  shall  meet  them 
again. 

TEACHINGS    OF   JESUS. 

All  this  natural  faith  in  immortality  is  sanc- 
tioned and  strengthened  by  the  teachings  of 
Jesus.  He  says  indeed  but  little  about  it  in 
his  recorded  words ;  but  once,  when  he  de- 
clared that  there  was  plenty  of  room  in  the 
heavenly  mansions  to  which  he  was  going,  he 
explained  why  he  had  referred  to  it  so  little  in 
his  teachings,  by  adding,  "  If  it  were  not  so,  I 
would  have  told  you."  It  was  in  effect  a  dec- 
laration that  the  natural  faith  in  immortality 
is  well  founded. 

No  one,  therefore,  who  believes  in  Jesus 
doubts  of  immortality;  and  although  faifh  in 
a  future  world  existed  before  his  coming,  it  is 
a  hundred-fold  stronger  and  clearer  to-day  be- 


THE   LIFE   THAT   IS   TO    COME.  177 

cause  of  his  teachings,  life,  and  death.  One 
of  the  very  first  effects  of  his  mission  was  to 
give  his  followers  a  clearness  and  strength  of 
f  \ith  which  no  one  in  earlier  ages  ever  reached. 
Read  the  speculations  of  Grecian  philoso- 
phers concerning  the  future,  and  the  va^ue 
allusions  to  it  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  then, 
turning  to  the  Christian  Scriptures,  see  what 
a  new  conviction  was  in  the  hearts  of  the 
apostles.  They  did  not  think,  or  imagine,  or 
hope,  they  hnew^  that  if  their  bodies  were  dis- 
solved they  had  an  everlasting  home  above. 
They  no  more  doubted  heaven  than  they  did 
earth ;  they  felt  as  sure  of  the  future  as  of 
the  present.  And  so  they  considered  that  de- 
parture from  earth  is  not  merely  endurable, 
but  after  life's  work  is  over  "  to  die  is  gain." 
There  is  no  utterance,  in  all  the  ages  preced- 
ing Christ,  which  approaches  the  assurance  of 
faith  in  these  exulting  words,  "  to  die  is  gain." 
They  show  that  the  immortality,  in  which 
other  men  hoped  and  trusted,  had  becomie  a 
firm,  unfaltering  conviction ;  and  whenever  we 

12 


178  THE  LIFE   THAT   IS  TO   COME. 

reach  the  apostolic  faith  in  Jesus,  we  have  the 
same  assurance  about  the  future,  and  no 
longer  say,  we  think,  we  believe,  but  we  know 
we  have  a  building  of  God,  eternal  in  the 
heavens. 

'  Now  without  touching  again  the  question 
of  future  punishment  which  has  been  so  fully 
discussed  already,  let  us  consider  what  inti- 
mations we  have  concerning  the  kind  of  life 
in  that  future  state  of  being.  For  though  it 
doth  not  yet  appear  exactly  what  we  shall  be, 
we  yet  learn  much  from  the  teachings  of  Jesus 
in  the  Gospel,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  our 
hearts. 

I.    PERSONAL   IDENTITY. 

In  that  other  state  of  being  we  preserve  our 
personal  identity.  The  spirit,  when  it  returns 
to  God  who  gave  it,  does  not  lose  its  individ- 
ual character,  as  the  body  does  in  returning 
to  the  earth,  but  retains  its  thoughts,  feelings, 
memories,  and  all  its  powers.  Hence,  proper- 
ly speaking,  man  has  not  two  lives,  but  one. 
In  the   body  and  out  of  the  body  he  is  the 


THE  LIFE  THAT  IS  TO  COME.      179 

same  person ;  and  life  is  one  continuous  ca- 
reer which  begins  on  earth  but  never  comes  to 
an  end. 

How  this  view  of  immortality  does  clothe 
our  life  with  new  responsibility  I  This  little 
span  of  time  is  long  enough  for  planting  the 
seed  whose  harvest  shall  be  reaped  through 
the  endless  ages  of  eternity.  This  little  speck 
of  earth  is  large  enough  to  give  rest  to  the 
soul  which  is  pluming  her  wings  for  a  higher 
flight  above.  Even  the  most  trivial  thing  we 
do  is  affecting  in  some  degree  our  whole  exist- 
ence, and  preparing  the  way  for  higher  joy  or 
deeper  sorrow.  Our  daily  work  is  not,  as  it 
sometimes  seems,  a  mere  finger-mark  on  the 
sands  of  time  which  the  waves  of  eternity  will 
wash  away;  for  even  when  the  world  has 
crumbled  back  to  chaos  we  shall  feel  in  our 
characters,  for  good  or  evil,  the  effect  of  its 
fleeting  pursuits.  There  is  no  end  to  human 
life ;  and  whatsoever  a  man  sows,  there  will 
be  time  for  him  to  reap,  if  not  here  then  here- 
after, the  full  harvest. 


180  THE  LIFE  THAT  IS  TO   COME. 


II.   ENDLESS   PROGRESS. 

But  while  entering  the  •  spirit-world  with  just 
the  same  nature  and  character  that  we  pos- 
sess on  leaving  this,  we  believe  that  our  life  in 
it  will  offer  opportunities  of  endless  progress. 
The  questions  which  vex  us  now  will  find  their 
answers  then.     The  doubts  which  perplex  us 
here  will   all   be    settled    there.     The   truths 
which  we  are  vainly  trying  to  search  out  will 
become  at  last  clear  to  our  strengthened  vis- 
ion ;  new  and  higher  thoughts  than  we  have 
ever  dreamed  of  will  pour  into   our  minds  ; 
and  as  the  endless  ages  roll  by,  each  will  bring 
something  still  nobler  for  our  souls  to  grasp. 
In  virtue,  also,  no  less  than   knowledge,  we 
shall  have  opportunities  of  constant  growth. 
Higher   and    still   higher   we  can    climb   the 
heights  of  excellence,  and  rise  nearer  and  still 
nearer  to  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  per- 
fect child  of  God.  How  glorious  a  life  that  must 
be,  which  never  leaves  us,  as  the  old  hymn  as- 
serts, "  Fixed  in  an  eternal  state,"  but  offers 


THE   LIFE   THAT   IS   TO    COME.  181 

continually  new  thoughts  to  the  inquiring 
mind,  —  new  degrees  of  holiness  to  the  upris- 
ing soul ! 

III.     MINISTERING   SPIRITS. 

Heaven  is  a  field  for  higher  duties  and  no- 
bler work  than  earth.  It  is  painful  to  hear 
descriptions  of  the  future  made  up  of  singing 
psalms,  playing  harps,  and  keeping  Sabbaths, 
as  though  these  spiritual  enjoyments,  which 
begin  and  end  solely  with  ourselves,  could 
represent  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  heaven- 
ly life !  Why,  you  have  no  right  to  pass  even 
a  week  on  earth  in  this  way,  much  less  a  whole 
eternity  above !  It  is  probable,  indeed,  that 
Christian  love  will  always  show  itself  by  mak- 
ing melody  in  the  heart  unto  the  Lord,  but  its 
noblest  work  must  ever  be  the  doing  of  good 
service  to  the  wayward,  suffering  children  ol 
God. 

No  more  in  heaven  than  on  earth  will  the 
truly  blessed  ones  remain  content  in  their  ev- 
erlasting habitations,  and  let  the  world  groan 


182  THE   LIFE   THAT   IS   TO   COME. 

unheeded  beneath  its  weight  of  sorrow  and 
sin.     There,  as  here,  they  must  find  as  great 
joy  in  what  they  freely  give,  as  in  what  they 
freely  receive ;   there,   as  here,  they  must  de- 
light in  teaching  those  below  them,  no  less 
than  in  learning  from  those  above ;   there,  as 
here,  they  must  rejoice  in  each  new  step  in 
holiness,  not  simply  because  it  brings  them 
nearer  God,  but  also  because  it  enables  them 
to  lift  up  the  lower  spirits  still.     Were  it  not 
so,  we  should  shrink  from  heaven  as  we  do 
from  a  monastery's  cell.     If  to  lay  aside  the 
body  is  to  lay  aside  all  power  to  comfort  the 
sorrowing,  strengthen  the  weak,  reclaim  the 
erring  and  save  the  lost,  then  no  one  who  is 
filled  with  the  true  spirit  of  Christ  will  wish 
to  be  taken  from  the  world.     Heaven  would 
be  no  heaven  if  all  generous  care  for  others 
was  lacking  ;  we  should  grow  sick  at  heart  in 
remembering  the  wide-spread   misery  which 
still  existed,  and  should  pray  the  good  Father 
to  send  us  out  on  an  errand  of  mercy  to  the 
world.     And  are  not  the  holy  ones  who  have 


THE   LIFE    THAT  IS  TO   COME.  183 

passed  on,  all  ministering  spirits  sent  forth  to 
minister  unto  those  who  have  not  yet  claimed 
their  inheritance  in  the  heavens  ? 

If  you  believe  the  Bible  you  know  that  this 
is  no  idle  fancy,  but  the  true  angelic  life.  That 
book  tells  you  that  God  gives  his  angels  charge 
over  his  children  who  still  remain  on  earth  ; 
that  he  sends  them  with  divine  strength  to 
those  who  are  tempted  in  the  desert ;  that  he 
bids  them  carry  heavenly  comfort  to  those 
whose  Gethsemane  is  a  garden  of  agony ; 
that  he  places  them  by  the  grave  to  say  to  all 
mourning  hearts,  "  He  whom  you  seek  is  not 
here ;  he  has  arisen."  From  beginning  to  end 
it  speaks  of  them  as  chiefly  engaged,  not  in 
their  own  spiritual  culture  or  enjoyment,  but 
in  doing  his  will  on  earth  as  in  heaven ;  and 
therefore  we  are  right  in  regarding  the  spirit 
world  as  a  field  for  higher  duties  and  nobler 
work. 

IV.    REUNION   OF   FRIENDS. 

Finally,  we  look  forward  in  the  future  to 
the  reunion  of  those  who  are  separated  here. 


184  THE  LIFE  THAT  IS  TO  COME. 

Jesus  clearly  implied  this  recognition  of  friends, 
when  he  prayed  that  his  disciples  might  be 
with  him  in  heaven  and  behold  his  glory; 
Paul,  also,  taught  it,  when  he  felt  a  desire  to 
depart  and  be  with  Christ ;  and  John,  when 
he  declared  that  in  the  future  we  shall  see 
Christ  as  he  is ;  and  as  for  the  teachings  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  our  hearts  —  the  wishes, 
hopes,  longings  of  our  inmost  souls,  they 
are  one  and  all  prophetic  of  the  hour  when 
we  shall  meet  again  with  those  who  have 
been  dearest  to  us  here,  and  shall  meet  also 
with  a  warmer  and  truer  love  than  we  had 
before. 

Without  this  reunion,  even  immortality 
would  prove  but  a  partial  blessing.  It  is 
much  indeed  to  feel  that  we  live  right  on, 
preserving  our  personal  identity  in  spite  of 
physical  death.  It  is  a  cause  of  rejoicing  still 
further,  that  beyond  the  grave  there  is  op- 
portunity for  endless  progress  in  truth  and 
holiness.  It  is  a  matter  of  still  more  devout 
thanksgiving,  that  in  that  higher  sphere  we 


THE  LIFE   THAT  IS    TO   COME.  185 

are  not  to  be  idle  spectators  of  the  world's 
sufferings,  but  are  ourselves  to  be  ministering 
spirits  unto  others.  But  amid  the  cries  of 
anguish  which  go  up  from  countless  hearts 
and  homes  about  us,  we  can  nowhere  find  a 
lasting  consolation,  save  in  the  assurance  that 
our  souls  are  to  be  gladdened  by  and  by  when 
the  whole  family  circle  will  be  reunited,  and, 
not  one  member  missing,  all  shall  join  in  lov- 
ing and  serving  each  other  and  the  dear  Father 
of  us  all. 

So  without  undervaluing  the  life  which  now 
is,  we  would  give  hearty  thanks  for  that  which 
is  to  come.  Thanks,  O  Lord,  that  in  spite  of 
what  we  call  death,  our  life  never  comes  to  an 
end !  Thanks  for  the  new  lessons  of  truth  and 
virtue  which  we  shall  keep  on  learning  through 
the  endless  ages!  Thanks  that  even  more  than 
now,  we  shall  be  able  to  minister  to  all  thy 
needy  children,  and  bring  them  to  their  heav- 
enly heritage!  Unnumbered  thanks,  from  the 
depths  of  our  being,  that  after  the  long,  weary 


186  THE   LIFE   THAT   IS   TO   COxME. 

months  of  separation,  husband  and  wife,  broth- 
er and  sister,  parent  and  child,  shall  have  their 
hour  of  consolation ! 

Thanks   be   to    God   for   his    unspeakable 
gift! 


THE  END. 


Cambridge :  Stereot)rped  and  Printed  by  John  "Wilson  &  Son. 


